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We get it, getting adequate sleep is tough. You’re busy with work, family, keeping up with the house, and following your training program or getting in regular rides. Sometimes, it seems like the easiest thing to cut back on is shut-eye. And at first, this might not seem like a big deal. You can muscle through a few tired mornings. But if you’re chronically under sleeping, your health and your athletic performance will likely take a hit.
That’s the bad news. The good news? You can easily take charge of your sleep and be a better athlete and person for it. All you have to do is put in the effort.
“There are a lot of sleep behaviors you can control, so it’s a really important part of your training,” Cathy Goldstein, M.D., clinical associate professor of sleep medicine and neurology at University of Michigan, tells Bicycling. You read that right: Looking at your sleep habits—and scheming to optimize them—should have a place on your training plan, just like your rides.
Here’s why you should care about getting more sleep, and some tips for actually making it happen.
6 Benefits of Sleep
1. Lowers Your Risk of Health Problems
Getting good sleep is one of the best things you can do for your health. When we’re sleeping, our bodies are actually hard at work repairing themselves. Everything from our heart to our blood vessels to the way our body reacts to insulin can be impacted when we skimp on sleep. In fact, lack of sleep is linked to an increased risk of tons of diseases, including heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, and obesity, according to the National Institute of Health (NIH).
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2. Enhances Your Mental Game
“Even though there is a theoretical basis that sleep is required for the physical parts of performance, it’s even more so required for the mental parts of performance,” Dr. Goldstein says. “That’s what we really find.”
Focus, decision making, and judgment all suffer when we’re sleep deprived—and we need all those things to work like clockwork to perform at the top of our games. Having your head on straight is especially important when you’re navigating a new route or making quick judgment calls about obstacles or other external factors that could impact your safety.
Lack of sleep can also impact the perception of discomfort, Dr. Goldstein adds. “When people are sleep deprived, perceived exertion is much higher.” This can lead to a less-than-stellar performance, where everything feels harder than it really should.
3. Lets Your Muscles Recover
“Processes that promote muscle healing occur during sleep,” Dr. Goldstein says. According to the NIH, deep sleep triggers the body to release a hormone (known generally as human growth hormone) that boosts muscle mass and helps repair cells and tissues in the body. “If you’re sleep deprived, it’s possible you won’t have that physical recovery you need,” Dr. Goldstein adds.
4. Keeps Your Immune System Healthy
Proper sleep is critical for keeping your immune system functioning as it should, Alon Avidan, M.D., M.P.H., professor of neurology at UCLA and director of the UCLA Sleep Disorders Center, tells Bicycling. Sleep deficiency can change the way in which your immune system responds to harmful substances like bacteria and viruses, according to the NIH.
Science hasn’t fully pinpointed why sleep tends to keep the immune system healthy, but the leading theory is that the hormones released while we sleep help the cells of the immune system both move where they need to go in the body and communicate to effectively fight off illnesses, according to a 2019 research review published in the journal Physiological Reviews.
5. Boosts Brain Power
A tired brain just doesn’t function as well as a well-rested brain. “We know that for proper brain function, appropriate sleep is of fundamental importance,” Dr. Avidan says. While we sleep, our body’s lymphatic system clears toxins and abnormal proteins from our cerebrospinal fluid (the fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord), he explains. This all helps us efficiently learn, problem solve, and make decisions, per the NIH.
During sleep, the brain also forms new pathways that allow us to learn and commit things to memory, according to the NIH. “Sleep is really integral in motor memories,” Dr. Goldstein says. “You learn a motor task and ‘sleep on it.’ We think a lot of memory consolidation, in terms of motor learning, occurs during slow-wave sleep.” That’s important if you’re learning new things on the bike and want to maintain progress. To make it stick, you need that slow-wave (or the deepest phase of non-REM) sleep.
6. Improves Mood and Reduces Stress
If you’ve ever gotten a poor night's sleep and woke up grumpy, then you know where this is going. Being well-rested can help improve your mood and make you better at dealing with stress, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A positive attitude can also make you feel more motivated to get up and out for a training session and just make a workout or ride more enjoyable.
Lack of sleep, on the other hand, is associated with trouble controlling emotions and coping with change and has also been linked to depression, suicide, and risk-taking behavior, per the NIH. This might come into play if you need to re-route your ride or switch up your training plan—you need a positive mindset to make it happen.
How Much Sleep Do Cyclists Need?
According to the National Sleep Foundation, adults need 7 to 9 hours of quality sleep each night. There isn’t any convincing evidence that athletes need more than that.
One small May 2021 study published in the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance asked athletes to report their sleep needs, and 80 percent of them said they need between 7 and 9 hours—exactly in line with the recommendations. The study also found that specific sleep needs varied greatly from athlete to athlete.
If you feel like you’re dragging and need a little pick-me-up, both Dr. Goldstein and Dr. Avidan recommend taking a short afternoon nap over relying on stimulants like caffeine.
“The ability to take a nap is very useful because it rejuvenates you and gives you that level of energy naturally so you can keep going,” Dr. Avidan says. Dr. Goldstein recommends 30 minutes, but says to set aside 45 minutes so you factor in some time to actually fall asleep. “This can have performance benefits without interfering with night time sleep.” Keep in mind, shutting your eyes for more than 30 minutes may make you feel groggy and/or cause insomnia later. So keep midday shut-eye short.
Signs of Sleep Deprivation and How to Get Better Sleep
While there are guidelines for how much sleep you need, the right amount of nightly sleep is unique to each person. That means you have to be in tune with your body and learn the signs that you need more sleep. Here’s what to look for:
- You feel sleepy during the day
- You doze off while sitting
- Your workouts feel harder than normal
- You have trouble concentrating on work or workouts
- Your brain feels foggy
To figure how much sleep you need, Dr. Goldstein recommends letting yourself sleep in and wake up naturally without an alarm for a few nights. How much you sleep on average during those nights is a good estimate for the total amount you need.
The problem is that many of us don’t have the luxury of doing that—instead, we chronically skimp on sleep and frantically try to make up for it on the weekends. But you can’t really “catch up” on sleep, Dr. Goldstein says. In fact, keeping a consistent sleep-wake schedule is one of the best ways to keep your circadian rhythm on track. So those weekend mornings when you sleep in? They might be doing more harm than good.
Establishing sleep-promoting habits—referred to as good “sleep hygiene”—throughout the day can help you sleep better at night and get you into a better rhythm that allows for a natural sleep-wake cycle. A few things to try:
- Avoid caffeine in the afternoon
- Avoid blue-light-emitting electronics after the sun goes down
- Keep the room temperature between 60 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit
- Exercise earlier in the day
- Spend time outside each day
- Avoid eating too close to bedtime
- Keep your room dark
- Maintain a consistent bedtime and wake time
Also, know that the relationship between exercise and sleep is bidirectional, Dr. Goldstein says. In other words, while you need good sleep to perform well in your workouts, your workouts will also likely improve your sleep at night. So keeping a consistent exercise routine will benefit not only your performance on the bike, but also that shut-eye you get at night.
Finally, if you still find you’re sleepy despite getting 7 to 9 hours consistently each night, you may want to get evaluated by a sleep doctor. They can look into whether an underlying sleep disorder is at play and help you lay out a plan to get quality sleep—that way, you’re well-rested and ready to perform at your best every day.
