Hitting the Sack: Sleep Cycles Can Affect Athletes’ Performance
7:46 minutes
Should coaches factor in an athlete’s bedtime when putting together the team roster? In a study out this week in Current Biology, researchers found that an athlete’s performance can vary throughout the day by up to 26 percent. The timing of peak performance depended on the individual’s body clock. Roland Brandstaetter, a co-author on the study, discusses how this research could be used in training schedules, and makes a prediction for this year’s Super Bowl.
Segment Guests
Roland Brandstaetter
Roland Brandstaetter is a senior lecturer in biosciences at the University of Birmingham in Birmingham, England.
Related Links
- Who’s going to win? The answer could change by the hour
- For Athletes, the Time of an Event Can Affect Performance
- Bedtime ‘has huge impact on sport’
- The Circadian Advantage: How Sleep Patterns Benefit Certain NFL Teams
- Night owls vs. morning larks Who really gets the worm?
- Study: The Impact of Circadian Phenotype and Time since Awakening on Diurnal Performance in Athletes
Meet the Producer
About Alexa Lim
@AlexaLim22Alexa Lim was a senior producer for Science Friday. Her favorite stories involve space, sound, and strange animal discoveries.