athletics and sleep | A2Zzz | Northern-based Athletes
Recently, I had the opportunity to explain on the Fox Weather streaming service why we sometimes feel sleepier in the winter than we do in other seasons. The interview got me thinking about how these same challenges may be faced by college and professional winter sports athletes.
Sleep and Athletics | Wearables | A2Zzz
In the United States, there are thousands of professional athletes, hundreds of thousands of college athletes and tens of millions of high school, club and individual athletes that participate in every sport imaginable. However, being active and in good physical shape does not make one immune from the same frailties seen across the nation’s entire population. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 32% of 18- to 24-year-olds and about 38% of those ages 25-34 sleep less than seven hours a night.
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The purpose of today's training is to defeat yesterday's understanding. —MIYAMOTO MUSASHI
career in sleep | member spotlight
Kevin Adley, RPSGT, CCSH, is the director of business development at DrLullaby and currently serves on AAST’s Educational Advisory Committee. AAST recently spoke with Adley on his career path in sleep, what excites him about the future of the industry and more.
Athletes and Sleep | A2Zzz | body cooling
When athletes obtain optimal sleep, their mood, fatigue, mental and physical performance, recovery, and cognition improve while their risk of injury decreases. However, incorporating sleep as part of an athlete’s training regimen is often overlooked. Additionally, obtaining sufficient sleep can be difficult as athletes travel to tournaments — especially if it involves traveling across time zones. The change in time disrupts an athlete’s circadian rhythm, which can contribute to sleepiness and fatigue, and negatively impact an athlete’s performance. A recent study by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) demonstrated that baseball players’ performance decreased as the season progressed due to frequent travel (i.e., disruptions in the sleep-wake schedule). Improving sleep could potentially improve performance and prevent injury in athletes, and in recent years, scientists have used partial body and whole-body cooling as a way to do this. Some results have been promising.
With 2022 well underway and spring now here, I am eager for what’s to come in the next few months for AAST, its members, and the sleep community and profession.
sleep apnea | obstructive sleep apnea | snoring
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), the most common type of sleep apnea, can be a serious sleep disorder, as breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep. Caused by throat muscles intermittently relaxing and blocking the airway, it can impair a patient's ability to reach desired deep and restful phases of sleep.
Insomnia is a common sleep disorder that makes it difficult to fall asleep, stay asleep and/or return to sleep after waking. Insomnia can be chronic or acute, meaning long-term or short-term, and often comes and goes over time. Depending on its severity, insomnia can lead to health complications and lifestyle disruptions.
As nicotine is a stimulant, it is no surprise that its consumption, especially close to bedtime can disturb sleep. Nicotine attaches to nicotinic cholinergic receptors (NAChRs), which triggers the release of feel-good neurotransmitters including serotonin, dopamine, glutamate and gamma aminobutyric acid — making it both stimulating and addictive.
