As Director of Sport Science at Thorne, sleep is often the most overlooked aspect of recovery and wellness that I find when working with active individuals — from Olympians and NBA athletes to active amateurs and clinical patients managing illness or injury. When assessing clients’ overall nutrition and recovery plans, one “nutrient” stands out as lacking in almost all clients, what I call “Vitamin Zzz.” Even in clients that show some intention around their sleep habits, people often have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or a combination of both.
We are not sleeping enough
More than 40% of Americans sleep less than the ideal amount, which makes sleep a hot topic among doctors and sports scientists. Seven of 10 adults experience so much daily stress that it disrupts their nightly sleep.
Getting enough sleep is not just an issue for the adult population; the American Academy of Sleep recommends teens ages 13-18 get 8-10 hours of sleep each night. However, these recommendations can be confounded based on current research that suggests teens – as well as shift workers, travelers, and night-time users of hand-held electronic devices – have a circadian rhythm that runs longer than 24 hours.
Light exposure from hand-held devices can push the normal sleep cycle back, which may cause the onset of nighttime sleepiness to delay. Although these individuals go to sleep much later, the hourly need for sleep remains the same. Unfortunately, social cues to wake up – such as school, work, or training – further shorten the sleep cycle.
This problem doesn’t only plague average Americans. In fact, up to 75% of student athletes report less than 8 hours of sleep, while two-thirds of athletes studied report they get worse than normal sleep the night before a competition, while an evaluation of professional hockey players shows that the number of players who report sleep disturbances will double during the season compared to off-season. Student-athletes who sleep less than eight hours a night are twice as likely to suffer an injury.
Across all groups, these findings are likely related to the negative impact of stress, alternating and inconsistent schedules, and physical overload paired with insufficient sleep.
Lack of sleep impedes high performance
Sleep deprivation leads to a decline in alertness, reaction time, and the ability to store memories. Sleep deprivation can also lead to a decrease in immune function and a reduction in the release of growth hormones, as well as the hormones leptin and adiponectin – both of which have roles in fat gain and loss.
Consistent lack of sleep is also associated with long-term health issues such as weight gain, stroke risk, and various chronic illnesses. On the other hand, additional research shows that consistently good sleep quality can have a significant positive impact on active performance.
Short Sleep Duration and Weight Gain: A Systematic Review. Source: Penn State University
Consistent good sleep has been shown to have a direct impact on exercise ability:
- Well-rested tennis players showed a 4.2% increase in hitting accuracy.
- Well-rested basketball players increased free throw and 3-point shooting percentage by 9% each.
- Under-rested athletes lost 20 pounds off their maximum bench press weight after only four days of inadequate sleep.
- Perceived exhaustion increased 18% after 30 hours of sleep loss.
- Sleep loss led to an 11% increase in time to exhaustion.
Even if you are not a regular active athlete, these findings directly translate into whatever you decide to pursue in your daily life; higher quality sleep can play a direct role in making you sharper and more resilient in your career, in your role as a parent, or as a friend, etc. Prioritizing sleep and maintaining a consistent sleep cycle might be the slight difference that you need to make a necessary healthy lifestyle change, put in the extra hours for a promotion or take on a new challenge.
If you’ve been having trouble sleeping, try supplements instead of OTC sleep aids
Many Americans use prescription or over-the-counter sleep aids to help them fall asleep and stay asleep. Unfortunately, these options can have adverse side effects, including drowsiness and a “hangover” effect the following morning. Over-the-counter sleep aids are also not indicated for long-term use and their safety and efficacy has not been well-established. In older adults, OTC sleep aids have been shown on occasion to result in compromised cognitive function, blurred vision, daytime sedation, car crashes and other accidents.
To solve this, Thorne’s team of researchers and medical professionals have formulated products containing the evidence-backed ingredients that promote optimal sleep and recovery so that you don’t feel groggy the next day* We’ve partnered with Eight Sleep to create The Melatonin Pro Bundle that supports all stages of sleep.