In the June 2009 copy of Bicycling Magazine, Lisa Fields chooses the topic of sleep and athletic recovery and highlighted some things that all of us can benefit from, athletes or not.
The Golden Nuggets:
~Athletes train hard, get too little sleep, and end up complaining of fatigue.
~Chronic sleep deprivation robs the body of deep healing and recovery needed after hard exercise.
~Experts recommend that an athlete in training get 8-10 hours of sleep (compared to current average of 6 hours/night.)
~Deep sleep during the first half of the night stimulates release of growth hormone to accomplishes recovery and muscle repair.
~Waking up too early short cuts REM sleep when the mind refreshes.
~Proper sleep can improve your athletic performance!
I guess really I could have just said that, but people do want to know the details sometimes.
Cheers!
