Hints, Tips and Geek Stuff

Getting a good amount of quality sleep is one of the most under-rated health tips out there. Just as a good night’s rest can improve your cognitive function, stress levels, and general health, it also has the potential to improve your running performance.

When you go for a run or perform any other type of intensive exercise your muscles are put under stress to the point that small micro-tears develop in the muscle fibres. Training improvements can only be made provided that the body has the required fuel and enough of a rest period afterwards to repair those micro-tears a little bit stronger than they were previously. Therefore rest is an essential part of any training programme, and the best quality rest occurs during sleep.

During sleep the body releases various hormones including growth and repair hormones. These repair and recharge the muscular system as well as other systems which have had to cope with stress throughout the day. Without this recharge the body would wear itself out leaving it exhausted and vulnerable to infections. Getting around 8 hours of good quality undisturbed sleep per night is the most effective way to make sure these hormones are best equipped to do their job and repair the runner’s body.

Paula Radcliffe is reported to sleep for 9 hours per night plus another 2 in the afternoon. For the non-elite runner who has to fit work and family commitments into the day this is simply not realistic, but it still demonstrates the important relationship between training and rest. There is no point drastically increasing the amount of time spent training if you cannot increase the amount of rest required to cope with it.

So what is the right amount for you? Individual needs will vary but scientists suggest that somewhere around 6 - 10 hours is necessary and that in order to know that that is enough you should be able to wake naturally (rather than being woken by an alarm clock or other stimulus) and feel refreshed. Other recommendations include getting to sleep by 10.30pm in order to best synchronise sleep with your “body clock”, sleeping in a completely dark room and avoiding stimulants such as caffeine, sugar and bright lights in the hours leading up to bed time. Some of these may prove difficult to apply to every-day life but try and give them a go and certainly think about taking the role of sleep in improving your running performance a bit more seriously.

By Kieran O'Doherty from Kinetic Health and Fitness