How much sleep should one get the night before a race and does when the sleep occurs matter? I have a race next Saturday at 3 in the afternoon, what is the optimal schedule for sleep? I've tried a few different things in the past, I just wanted to hear what other people have to say on the subject.
I always found the closer I kept to my normal sleep patterns and schedule the better I did.
i always thought it was the sleep in the days leading up to the race that was important.
I've heard that too, could you elaborate?
i don't think that you are going to find authoritative answers to this one BUT it is worth noting that oversleeping can leave you pretty groggy, so it doesn't neccessarily make sense to sleep as much as possible the night before a race. For me, 5-7 is really all that I can benefit from.
The largest period of your REM sleep cycle falls between 6-7.5 hours of sleep. This is the deepest of the sleep cycles when your body has it's greatest amount of memory consolidation and deep rest/physical recovery. It's generally accepted that getting through this to 7 hours will do you great good. However, different people have different sleep requirements, requiring less and more sleep for minimal or optimal functioning.
http://www.npi.ucla.edu/sleepresearch/SleepDream/47_02big.jpg
Maryjaneman: Waking up in the middle of an REM cycle will leave you "sleep drunk" or groggy.
I have found if I'm getting sufficient rest on a regular time schedule (i.e. 7 hours of sleep per night at the same time 11pm - 6am) I don't need much rest the night before a race to feel good. If I only get 5 or 6 hours the night before race day I usually feel fine. However, if my sleep during the week is irregular (i.e. varying amounts per night and going to bed and getting up at different times) I am apt to not feel as good on race day (even if I get 7+ hours sleep). The key is cosistent sleep throughtout the week. I also agree that too much sleep the night before a race (for me 8-9 hours) will leave me feeling groggy and lethargic.
Lennon's Working Class hero is an excellent greatest hits album by the way.
For me the most important thing is the sleep in the days before. Not so much the night before before but the sleep 2 and 3 nights before.
