The Importance of Proper Sleep in Youth Athletes
“Any person who wants to be an elite performer needs to focus on getting elite sleep."
– Dan Lepping, MS, LAT, ATC, CSCS, Sports Medicine Center at Children's Hospital Colorado
Sleep is an essential pillar of recovery for youth athletes to stay at the top of their game. Adequate rest and recovery allow the body to rebound and stay resilient against the stresses of exercise and school. Student athletes experience more stress than their peers, with 44% of female athletes and 17% of male athletes reporting feeing mentally and physically overwhelmed. (1)
Sleep plays a vital role in both physical and cognitive performance in youth. Teenage athletes between the ages of 13-19 years are considered highly at risk for disordered sleep and the correlated negative physical and mental effects of decreased sleep. (2)
The recommended minimum amount of sleep for youth athletes between the ages of 7 and 19 years is 8 to 10 hours per night. (2)
A study evaluating competitive athletes between the ages of 14.4 and 17 years old found that only 52% of athletes got 8 hours or more of sleep per night.3 Reducing screen time an hour prior to going to bed can help youth athletes fall asleep faster. Maintaining good sleep habits can also help, try to go to bed and get up at the same time each day to keep a consistent schedule.
Athletes who consistently sleep less than eight hours a night have been found to be 1.7 times more likely to experience an injury. (4)
Sleep is critical for repairing the wear-and-tear that occurs after exercise. Athletes tend to spend more time in slow wave sleep than non-athletes, this is when the body releases growth hormone which works to repair muscles, build bones, and manage energy stores depleted during physical activity. (5)
Growth hormones are only released during deep sleep cycles and aid the body in tissue repair by utilizing protein stores in the body. Cortisol, a major stress hormone, is decreased in the body during sleep, leading to faster physical recovery and less frequent illness in youth athletes. (3)
Sleep is critical for higher cognitive functions in youth athletes such as judgment, focus, and decision-making. It also plays a part in learning and memory, which helps to reinforce new skills during training. These combined factors may make the difference between a game won or lost. (6)
Benefits of increased sleep in youth athletes include:
Decreased injury risk and faster recovery times
Improved motor pattern retention and coordination
Decreased perception of fatigue, leading to improved endurance
Improved cognitive function
Reaction time, accuracy, and decision making
Sources:
[1] https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/research/wellness/Dec2023RES_HW-MentalHealthRelease.pdf
[2] Coel, R. A., Pujalte, G. G. A., Applewhite, A. I., Zaslow, T., Cooper, G., Ton, A. N., & Benjamin, H. J. (2023). Sleep and the Young Athlete. Sports health, 15(4), 537–546. https://doi.org/10.1177/19417381221108732
[3] https://www.childrenscolorado.org/just-ask-childrens/articles/sleep-student-athletes-performance/
[4] Milewski, Matthew D. MD*; Skaggs, David L. MD, MMM†; Bishop, Gregory A. MS‡; Pace, J. Lee MD†; Ibrahim, David A. MD†; Wren, Tishya A.L. PhD†; Barzdukas, Audrius MEd‡. Chronic Lack of Sleep is Associated With Increased Sports Injuries in Adolescent Athletes. Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics 34(2):p 129-133, March 2014. | DOI: 10.1097/BPO.0000000000000151
[5] Sekiguchi Y, Adams WM, Benjamin CL, Curtis RM, Giersch GEW, Casa DJ. Relationships between resting heart rate, heart rate variability and sleep characteristics among female collegiate cross-country athletes. J Sleep Res. 2019; 28:e12836. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.12836
[6] https://www.sleepfoundation.org/teens-and-sleep/student-athletes-sleep-time
