How Elite Athletes ACTUALLY Sleep
Summary
TLDRThis video script delves into the sleep habits of elite athletes, exploring methods like Ronaldo's 90-minute sleep cycles and Federer's 12-hour sleep claims. It challenges the sensationalism around sleep and emphasizes the importance of natural recovery processes over reliance on tech or supplements. The narrator embarks on a 30-day sleep experiment, guided by a renowned sleep coach, to understand and optimize sleep for better energy and performance, ultimately advocating for a balanced, individualized approach to achieving restorative rest.
Takeaways
- 🏆 Elite athletes prioritize sleep for recovery, energy, and performance, with varying methods such as long hours or polyphasic sleep cycles.
- 🕒 The concept of sleep cycles is highlighted, with 90-minute cycles being optimal for feeling refreshed without grogginess.
- 🌞 Morning sunlight is crucial for resetting circadian rhythms and promoting wakefulness throughout the day.
- 🛌 Sleep quality is influenced by various factors including light exposure, supplements, and even the sleep environment.
- 🤔 The authenticity of reported sleep methods by athletes is questioned, suggesting that the actual amount of sleep they get may differ from what is publicly stated.
- 🧘♂️ Athletes use unconventional techniques like hyperbaric chambers and altitude training for recovery, which may not be necessary for the average person.
- 🚫 The reliance on caffeine and other stimulants is common but can lead to a vicious cycle of dependence and decreased sleep quality.
- 💊 There is a growing trend of using supplements and sleeping aids, but these are not always necessary and can have negative side effects.
- 🌱 A balanced, nutrient-dense diet can provide the necessary elements for good sleep without the need for additional supplements.
- 🛌 The importance of a conducive sleep environment is emphasized, but it does not have to be extravagant or expensive to be effective.
- 🔄 Being flexible with sleep and adapting to one's natural sleep patterns is key to achieving optimal rest and recovery.
Q & A
How many hours does Roger Federer claim to sleep?
-Roger Federer claims to sleep around 12 hours.
What is the reported sleep duration for Usain Bolt?
-Usain Bolt reportedly sleeps between nine and a half to ten hours a night.
What is Ronaldo's unique sleep pattern, as mentioned in the script?
-Ronaldo reportedly sleeps for 90 minutes five times a day, viewing sleep in cycles instead of a continuous block of time.
What is the term used to describe the increased anxiety and stress caused by sleep tracking devices?
-The term is 'orthosomnia'.
What is the significance of morning sunlight for athletes according to the script?
-Morning sunlight is important for setting the circadian rhythm and optimizing energy levels throughout the day.
What is the recommended sleep cycle duration according to the sleep coach mentioned in the script?
-The recommended sleep cycle duration is 90 minutes, which is considered an optimum cycle for recovery.
What is a 'caffeine nap' and how does it work?
-A 'caffeine nap' is a short nap taken after consuming caffeine. The idea is that the caffeine will kick in as you wake up from the nap, providing an energy boost.
Why do some elite athletes reportedly sleep for unusually long hours?
-While some athletes may allocate a lot of time to sleep, the actual time spent sleeping may vary. It could be a part of their public image or marketplace narrative rather than their actual sleep habits.
What are some of the factors that influence sleep quality according to the script?
-Factors that influence sleep quality include exposure to blue light, caffeine intake, the use of supplements, and the sleep environment.
What is the role of supplements in the sleep routines of elite athletes?
-Supplements like magnesium and potassium can play a role in sleep routines, but they are not essential. A balanced diet can provide necessary nutrients, and supplements may offer additional benefits.
What is the conclusion of the script regarding achieving sleep like an elite athlete?
-The conclusion is that achieving elite-level sleep is about being flexible with your sleep, mastering the basics, and being in tune with natural processes rather than relying on fancy products or technology.
Outlines
🏆 Elite Athlete Sleep Secrets
This paragraph delves into the sleep habits of top athletes, such as Roger Federer, Usain Bolt, and Cristiano Ronaldo, revealing that they prioritize sleep for recovery and performance enhancement. The script discusses the potential exaggeration and misinformation surrounding these sleep routines and how sleep is a critical yet underutilized tool in the athlete's arsenal. The speaker embarks on a journey to understand and emulate these sleep methods, seeking advice from a renowned sleep coach and committing to a 30-day experiment to test the impact on biomarkers like cortisol and testosterone.
🌞 The Importance of Light and Circadian Rhythm
The second paragraph focuses on the role of light in regulating sleep patterns and enhancing daytime energy levels. It emphasizes the significance of morning sunlight exposure for resetting the circadian rhythm and the use of daylight lamps by athletes to maintain alertness. The speaker also touches on the potential over-reliance on caffeine and other stimulants as a substitute for proper sleep, and the influence of technology and media on sleep habits. The paragraph introduces the concept of a midday recovery period and the use of a sleep diary to track sleep patterns without high-tech devices.
🛌 Sleep Environment and Advanced Techniques
In the final paragraph, the emphasis shifts to the sleep environment and advanced sleep techniques used by elite athletes. It discusses the individual strategies employed by athletes like Federer to optimize their sleep conditions and the use of hyperbaric chambers for recovery. The speaker reflects on the sensationalism surrounding sleep products and the importance of focusing on natural sleep processes rather than relying on supplements or technology. The paragraph concludes with the speaker's personal results from the sleep experiment, highlighting the benefits of a nutrient-dense diet and the stability it brought to their energy levels, and the realization that mastering the basics of sleep is key to achieving elite-level recovery.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Elite Athlete
💡Sleep Cycles
💡Recovery
💡Caffeine
💡Cortisol
💡Testosterone
💡Magnesium
💡Circadian Rhythm
💡Blue Light
💡Polyphasic Sleep
💡Sleep Environment
💡Individuality
Highlights
Elite athletes prioritize sleep for recovery, energy, and mental toughness, with varying sleep methods such as Roger Federer's 12-hour sleep and Ronaldo's 5 times a day naps.
Sleep is considered a powerful performance enhancer, yet there's a lack of clarity and honesty in the methods athletes use.
The video explores the secretive recovery routines of elite athletes, including sleep coaching by professionals used by Guardiola, Ferguson, and Wenger.
Sleep cycles are essential, with athletes like Ronaldo following a 90-minute cycle, aiming for 7.5 hours of sleep.
The importance of morning sunlight for setting circadian rhythms and optimizing energy levels throughout the day.
Wearable tech and sleep monitoring devices are used to track sleep patterns, but can sometimes cause anxiety.
The influence of blue light on sleep and the use of daylight lamps to promote wakefulness.
Caffeine is a common energy booster among athletes, but it can lead to dependency and an unhealthy cycle.
The use of supplements like magnesium and potassium for sleep, though a balanced diet can also provide necessary nutrients.
The potential downsides of using sleeping tablets and the importance of understanding the nature of such substances.
The role of the sleep environment in optimizing recovery, including the use of hyperbaric chambers by athletes.
The concept of a 'caffeine nap' to enhance productivity and reduce the need for external stimulants.
The importance of being flexible with sleep and adapting to various environments for optimal recovery.
The individuality of sleep needs and the focus on mastering the basics rather than relying on fancy products.
The experiment conducted by the author to sleep like an elite athlete, including blood tests to measure biomarkers.
The results of the sleep experiment, emphasizing the benefits of a nutrient-dense diet and the stability of energy levels.
The conclusion that sleep is not an optional luxury but a necessity, and the importance of being in tune with natural sleep processes.
The final message that sleep mastery involves individuality, consistency, and resilience, rather than reliance on technology or supplements.
Transcripts
want to sleep like an elite athlete I
know I used to want to they push their
recovery to the max in the name of high
energy mental toughness and domination
but many of their sleep methods are
interesting so Roger Federer claims to
sleep around about 12 hours Usain Bolt a
famous Sprinter slept somewhere between
nine and a half to ten hours a night
then of course we've also got reports of
Ronaldo sleeping five times a day sleep
is probably the greatest legal
performance enhancing drug that few
athletes are abusing enough but claims
and methods seem shrouded in dishonesty
by poor journalistic communication and
financial incentives it's not helping
with what's been dubbed a sleep loss
epidemic and it is fast becoming one of
the greatest public health challenges
that we face in the 21st century what
really goes into the secretive recovery
routines of elite athletes I went to the
man who showed Ronaldo how to sleep with
some of the most elite clientele for
answers because the advice of sin has
always seemed over the top and dare I
say a very suspect if sleep weren't a
normal thing it would be a banned
substance it is the most powerful thing
that everyone has in the toolbox and so
few people use this is what woman Will's
strongest man 2017 this was the game
changer what are we actually witnessing
here and is there actually any truth in
this sleep is the ultimate luxury it's
time to find out what is really going on
here
lately I've been extremely low on energy
my solution is to reach for the caffeine
which results in more tiredness a
vicious cycle that repeats over and over
the reality is this is a norm for most
people and this cycle is encouraged by
drug companies social media and the
entertainment industry with Netflix CEO
stating sleep as their biggest
competitor this is not in your best
interest the shorter your sleep the
shorter your life but when you look to
the people at the top it seems
incredibly secretive and unconventional
you hear of Michael Phelps sleeping in
an altitude chamber Djokovic bringing
his own hyperbaric chamber to the US
Open I mean just look at some of these
sleep facilities the more you look into
it the more bizarre things get
there's wristbands that monitor motion
will show when and how often his
athlete's sleep is being interrupted
where it's to recover the bodies to
sleeping well so sleep even after months
of research I still couldn't make sense
of it all until I came across this man
so after promising an unbiased video on
the topic to those inside my body
transformation Workshop it was time to
get to work over the next 30 days I'll
be attempting to sleep like an elite
athlete as Guided by the Sleep coach
used by Guardiola Ferguson Wenger and
countless others providing you of an
actionable plan at the end now you're
watching this on YouTube because I
believe this is extremely important for
everyone to see I have two blood tests
for the first I took a month off all
supplements only consuming my regular
diet the second test will be after 30
days on all of these supplements while
applying the advice all track changes to
cortisol testosterone magnesium and many
more biomarkers which can help with
sleep now before we go for a day in the
life we need to cover the fundamentals
okay so why was Ronaldo sleeping for 90
minutes five times a day you see little
Hills athletes view sleep differently
they view it in Cycles instead of time
there's different crucial stages in
sleep but time to go through each of
these is around 90 minutes wake up in
the middle of a sleep cycle and you'll
probably feel groggy if you start
thinking Cycles rather than I've got to
get my eight hours then five 90 minute
Cycles is 7.5 hours there's that sort of
optimum 30 15 minutes in 15 minutes out
gives you that sort of area of hate this
is what Ronaldo seems to be doing just
in a weird way to fit his routine but
this doesn't explain the bizarre amount
of sleep the athletes reportedly get
we've got Roger Federer LeBron James and
Michelle Wie claiming around 12 hours a
day why does it seem like Elite athletes
sleep for so long they might be
allocating that amount of time to sleep
but whether actually sleeping during
that time is a completely different
matter I don't come across any athletes
in in my world and by default other
Associated athletes like you've
mentioned where that's probably just a
thing that's that's put into their
Marketplace saying well I allocate this
amount of time to it but whether they do
it or not is another matter so it makes
much more sense to take a report to a
pinch of salt look at sleep cycles per
week when you choose to fit these in
it's going to be down to your own
lifestyle and this helps take the
pressure off a bad night's sleep the
strategies you're about to hear come
down to priming your body and
environment to achieve this
you can't manage what you cannot measure
as the saying wearable tech claims to
provide impressive insight into sleep
metrics in fact in 2020 the NBA
purchased 2 000 aura rings for players
to wear as they can help determine when
an athlete is about to be ill before
symptoms this is one of the reasons I've
wanted one for so long they genuinely
look useful for now though I'm going to
be using a basic sleep diary obviously
it's not as high tech but I'll give you
access to this at the end of the video
just make sure to not be too obsessive
there's already a medical term called
orthosomnia for the increased anxiety
and stress that's created by oh dear my
sleep went down my Sleep Quality went
down my deep sleep went down and what
does that mean for my day or the rest of
the week this is why Elite athletes
focus on the factors which influence
sleep and this starts as soon as you
wake up
blue light is the first factor which is
important for setting your circadian
rhythm to optimize your energy levels
throughout the day it's not about just
getting outside you know it's it's not
about just getting a nice fresh air and
going for a walk there's a hell of a lot
going on here and the way you get that
really nice balance wow it's why
athletes prioritize getting morning
sunlight and Nick likes to install
daylight lamps to promote wakefulness
because when your body sends a sunlight
it shuts off the Melatonin production so
you when you wake up you're not groggy
you literally just wake up yeah like oh
the day has started now this sounds very
liver king-esque but it is actually
something to take seriously light
viewing early in the day is the most
powerful stimulus for wakefulness
throughout the day and it has a powerful
positive impact on your ability to fall
and stay asleep at night of course light
isn't the only energy boosting factor
with the record-breaking Liverpool 2020
Squad and many others reportedly make a
dosing caffeine before games is caffeine
abuse common in elite football common
Josh there has been in a growing
addictive behavior to a number of
factors those are all the little things
that you can access without prescription
you mentioned them caffeine sleeping
tablets melatonin supplements CBDs the
list is ends this darker side is
something you might have suspected and
you think of a pyramid or you think of
the iceberg
above the sea line you can you can see
that there's been a an increase in these
things being used for all sorts of
reasons when you look below
it's much greater
and he's growing much faster you just
can't it's not being revealed as much
worse substance is a secret behind Elite
athletes exceptional energy levels
because I wasn't convinced it was
sunlight
interestingly Federer's 12 hours of
sleep doesn't come in one block with two
hours of his time dedicated to getting a
90-minute sleep cycle in the day you see
we have a natural lull in energy around
2PM which is why Nick recommends a short
recovery period here just do something
even go for a walk sit outside
play a few more chords on your guitar
because you never get time to do it you
know and don't think of it as a waste of
time it's a it's a 30 minute slot it
used to be called a nap it's actually a
polyphasic performance recovery tool
it'll make you more productive you'll
get more out of your day you'll stop
wasting valuable time sleeping without
benefits because your motivation your
mood and all of this sort of stuff is in
a much more harmonious place so why is
it the most important 30 minutes of your
day I've just mentioned enough and
there's even more something you might
want to consider in this slot is a
caffeine nap if you're doing it every
day then you can do caffeine bang if you
fall into a micro sleep at your desk or
even with your headphones on where
you're sat right now then the caffeine
will just slightly kick in as you're
coming out of that 30 minute period and
then you can use things like light but
the more you do it whether you sleep or
not the less you need those things but
this will seem fairly Sim pool and my
goal here is to maximize my sleep so
where are these more Advanced Techniques
around one to two hours before we sleep
we want to start feeling tired so you
very much think about moving from bright
blue energy lights to diminish light
like candle yellow that sort of thing
this is why Harlan wears blue light
blockers before bed knocking on looking
like an Elton John tribute then consider
bulbs where you can remove the blue
light from just be careful not to
accidentally create your local Red Light
District now of course there's many
supplements which can seem extremely
beneficial for Sleep the one that seems
to be in my world is magnesium and
potassium you put them together and they
become quite powerful of course these in
supplement form aren't essential
supplements can can help with that
process but you can get all those little
things that you need from a nice healthy
balanced semi-plant-based five a day
type of approach a lot of footballers
seem to use supplements to help them
sleep after late kickoffs oh yeah I'm
going home celebrate with the family and
have a chamomile tea and sleep
this is one of the things I took even
though I am more skeptical when it comes
to supplements I took a fair few to test
against a healthy diet what would you
say to people who are using like alcohol
and drugs to help them sleep
good luck
a lot of products including sleeping
tablets are available online without
prescription they just arrive in a brown
box at your door and if it's called a
sleeping tablet maybe that's what it's
for to help you sleep just like a
painkiller but it isn't it's a highly
active drug that's only used to sedate
and reset and should only be used for a
very short period of time under specific
clinical reasons I do have a fair few
called Sleep Products now but I still
thought there was more out there was it
the Sleep environment
[Music]
Federer made headlines when he rented
out two houses during a competition one
for him the Opera for his family so his
sleep environment was as optimal as
possible before home games Man City
players sleep at their state-of-the-art
200 million recovery facilities then we
also have hyperbaric chambers backed by
some fairly convincing evidence this is
what won me World's Strongest Man 2017
this was the game changer this was my
perception of elite athlete recovery
secrecy extortionate individualized
approaches and questionable product
placement it can be difficult to make
sense of it all but if you learn one
thing from my mistakes let it be to
focus on things in order of importance I
strongly believe most people should
invest more into Wellness but marketers
like to inflate the importance of their
products sure they might help but good
sleep isn't something exclusive to the
elite sleep unfortunately is not an
optional lifestyle luxury
the way we achieve high-level optimized
recovery is because we've gone down that
journey and we can sleep anywhere
Anytime Anyplace up the side of a
mountain hanging off a cliff
what a lot of this comes down to is
being in tune with our natural processes
and it's not about fancy products it is
really your if you can bring into your
room in any way through colors
visualization sensory anything you can
do to make that feel a little bit more
natural orientating then what you do is
you're able to adapt any environment to
suit what you and your brain need to
optimize your recovery and you take the
emphasis away from
but so too dare I save marketing
that comes with a lot of
products this stuff doesn't need to be
expensive in fact when coaching the
wildly successful UK cycling team of the
Tour de France Nick achieved Black Op
Lines by taping bin bags to the windows
I'm not suggesting you do this your
neighbors will probably think you're a
serial killer but what I was hearing was
drastically different to the headlines
and advertisements
the media likes the short queue of just
how important sleep is I'm not going to
argue with that but if you think back to
when you slept the best it was probably
when you're a kid now things have
changed when it's a highly
individualized one percent gains which
get presented to you as the secret
behind athletes careers with marketers
convincing you you need sleeping pills
to sleep sleep gets sensationalized and
people start to overlook the basics
athletes traveled to far away places
with many sleep challenges they aren't
all sleeping 12 hours a night hooked to
machines with magical contraptions
[Music]
sleeping like an elite athlete is about
being flexible with your sleep what's
your secret because you're showing no
signs of slowing down Christmas Secrets
don't exist Secrets pioneering Tech and
supplements are great in the right
situation I've always loved this stuff
maybe a bit too much but the second you
become dependent on a ring Tech or
Endocrinology to sleep you've already
lost we have a lot of knowledge and a
lot of research we have the ability to
do so many more things and it'll keep
coming
but there's always that sort of thing
that it's still a human being and so you
do have to step back a little bit and
just go let me just remind myself I am
Josh this is what makes me tick fueling
up hydration recovery that's what makes
me tick and the more I'm in line with
that the better I'm going to be to deal
with everything else that's coming along
and sometimes it is nothing more than
just stepping back and reminding those
things before you go off doing anything
else okay so here's my results before
the Sleep Experiment all biomarkers were
good yes some of the metrics were
improved further with supplements may be
providing a small benefit but nutrient
dense diet was sufficient my energy
levels are now more stable and I'm less
dependent on caffeine but if I've
learned anything from the months of
research individuality consistency
resilience that is how you sleep like an
elite athlete master the basics and
maybe just maybe you don't need that
fancy product
[Music]
thank you
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