In the background of the Florida Panthers’ arduous Stanley Cup victory, the Boston Celtics’ dominating Finals performance, and Scottie Scheffler’s magical PGA Tour are a series of carefully crafted habits.
Every element of an athlete’s routine is broken down to a science: their eating habits, workout plan, and game day traditions are all prepared and executed with extreme precision.
But there’s one piece of preparation that many athletes overlook: their sleep schedule.
Dr. Chris Winter has been practicing neurology and sleep medicine for 20 years and excels at working with athletic teams to improve their performance by enhancing their sleep health. He was part of a team that conducted a 10-year study on how travelling across time zones affected MLB teams. Now he works with organizations in the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, and NCAA as well as the U.S. women’s national soccer team.
While he is an expert on how sleep affects an athlete’s performance, his knowledge doesn’t just apply to the top athletes in the world. Dr. Winter’s advice can be used by anyone, whether you’re a lover of the game or the leading scorer in your YMCA league.
Here are three pieces of advice from Dr. Winter to improve your sleep habits just like a pro athlete.
1. Take it one time zone at a time
Home field advantage is one of the few factors in a game that doesn’t occur on the field. While having fans in the stands certainly plays a part in that advantage, so does “circadian alignment.”
That’s a fancy way of saying “jet lag” can affect a player’s performance after crossing time zones. The human body needs time to adjust to a change in its environment. It doesn’t just apply to overseas trips like the series between the Dodgers and Padres in Seoul, South Korea.
The rule of thumb Dr. Winter gives is a general “one day per time zone” recommendation. For each time zone you travel through, it will take one day for your body to adjust your circadian rhythm to your new location. So, if you cross three time zones on a coast-to-coast flight, you’ll need three days to adjust. In his decade-long MLB study, Dr. Winter found that this principle was associated with a baseball team’s performance on the field.
“If you flew from New York to L.A., you were three hours off, and then the next day you were two hours off,” he said. “The next day you were one hour off. The next day you were acclimated to that time zone. Sure enough, the teams that were more off from that acclimation did worse if you were playing somebody who was acclimated.”
For example: This fall, the New York Yankees will host the rival Baltimore Orioles from Sept. 24 to 26. Both sides will be dueling for the division crown before the playoffs. It might seem like the Yanks would have the advantage playing at home, but they will be coming off a six-game road trip on the West Coast. In contrast, the Orioles won’t travel any farther than Detroit in the three weeks beforehand, and they will have just finished two series at home on the East Coast. Don’t be shocked if a circadian advantage helps Baltimore steal a win or two in New York in late September.
2. Winding down is important for sleeping
Everyone knows that athletes have incredibly rigorous schedules and routines to keep themselves in peak shape. NBA superstar Donovan Mitchell has every minute of his pre-game schedule planned.
Just like athletes prepare until there are zeroes on the clock, many also try their best after games to prepare their bodies to sleep. The human body loves consistency and, especially after an eventful or stressful day, needs time to release tension and relax.
When Dr. Winter advises teams, he tells them that winding down is crucial to getting a good night’s sleep, especially after a game.
“You win, or you get crushed in this dramatic fashion, you’ve got to go back to locker and do a few interviews, get cleaned up, got to eat, get to the hotel room and go right to sleep,” he said. “That’s hard for a lot of people. They’ve gone from putting themselves under a lot of pressure at the free throw line to putting themselves in a lot of pressure in bed. So, to me it’s really about, hey, let’s make sure you’re doing the things that allow you to help kind of wind down and move towards sleep.”
Take NBA Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama. The Spurs’ best player won’t answer his phone if it’s too close to his bedtime (even from his head coach!) and always reads for an hour before hitting the pillow.
Crashing into bed to try to hit eight hours of sleep may not be helpful if your body is still stressed or full of energy. If you get seven and a half hours of sleep and use those 30 minutes to wind down by listening to a podcast, reading a book, or doing any calming activity – that break might just be more beneficial than rushing to bed and struggling to fall asleep.
3. Good sleep takes training
Cooper Kupp didn’t come out of college as a perfect receiver. Before he was drafted, scouts criticized his speed and worried about how he would transition to the next level. It took the receiver years to perfect his craft and become one of the elite route runners in the NFL. Now he’s an Offensive Player of the Year, champion, and Super Bowl MVP.
It takes time to learn how to build those skills, and Dr. Winter tells coaches and players that it also takes time to learn how to sleep well, especially after leaving college. His advice can have the most impact when coaches come to him in training camp at the beginning of the year, rather than two weeks before the playoffs.
“It’s really about training people like you would train them to hit a curveball or train them to do a proper start to their swim start,” he said. “It’s training them to be good sleepers. We want to be proactive rather than reactive.”
If sleeping at night is difficult, start making changes as soon as possible. There’s no immediate solution to having a challenging time falling asleep, being unable to stay asleep, or waking up without feeling rested. Simple and attainable goals like getting to bed a few minutes earlier or taking an extra 10 minutes to wind down are the steps that help gradually improve your sleep health. Like training how to run a deep post, it’s the day-to-day improvements that make a difference over time and transform you into an All-Pro athlete or a well-rested sleeper.
Learn more about healthy sleep habits and how you can improve your sleep in five simple steps.
