👋 Hey there pack members,
Do you sleep better than the riders in the Tour de France? Or how about one of the biggest stars in the MLB? Keep reading to find out, and for all of the major highlights this week in sleep and fitness.
🚴♀️ Sleepless in the Saddle Subject: Tour de France Sleep Stats Unveiled
This week, Whoop unveiled that the hardened riders in the 2022 edition of the Tour de France managed only an average of 6.42 hours of sleep per night. The study looked at 8 male cyclists competing in the Tour and 9 female athletes competing in the Tour de France Femmes. Some of the most interesting data was found after mountain stages - where the men reported their lowest HRV scores, and where the female cyclists had the highest percentage of light sleep. While their scores may have dipped, it’s quite interesting to see the true resilience of the human body, even when it’s being pushed to the max.
⏳ The 5-Minute Warning Subject: What Falling Asleep Tells About Your Health
Here’s a startling fact to light: if you're in dreamland under 5 minutes, you could be wrestling with severe sleep deprivation. On the other hand, “regularly taking more than 20 to 30 minutes to conk out is often a sign of insomnia,” Dr. Brad Raper says. That could be driven by stress, anxiety, depression or even chronic pain. The ideal 'fall-asleep' time, also known as ‘sleep latency,’ is actually about 10 to 20 minutes. If you’re looking to improve your sleep latency, before going to a doctor try common remedies such as: sticking with a consistent bedtime and wake up time; keeping your bedroom cool, dark and quiet; and steering clear of devices right before bed.
⚾ MLB Star Ohtani's Grand Slumber Slam
ESPN revealed baseball wunderkind Shohei Ohtani's formula for peak performance: a whopping 10 hours of sleep each night, and then often a 2 hour nap on top of that. Ohtani calls sleep his “recovery” and readily admits that outside of his 6 hours of training a day in the off-season, he spends basically half of his day sleeping. This just serves as another vivid reminder that whether we're chasing baseballs or deadlines, getting plenty of hours of sleep (sometimes even more than you think you can manage) can truly help you excel at your craft.
🕸️ Spider-Man's Battle with Sleep Troubles
This week in an interview with Sleepopolis, our beloved Spider-Man, Tom Holland, opens up about his past experiences with alcohol and how it affected his sleep. Beginning in January of 2022, Holland made the switch to becoming a non-drinker, after he started using an Oura ring to track his sleep. “I bought this ring and it was booze,” he said. “It completely affected my sleep and since I have given it up I can sleep anywhere.” Now he stresses the point that regular alcohol consumption can significantly disrupt our sleep patterns, leading to a decrease in restorative sleep, which is crucial for our daily cognitive and physical performance.
🧠Your Brain Is Begging You to Sleep More. Here's Why.
Your brain craves sleep. As per this enlightening article from CNET, when we sleep, the brain goes through a whole host of processes that strengthens our mind. Deep sleep is our most restorative sleep which is essential for learning; light sleep is where the brain starts to work on memory consolidation; and REM sleep goes deep into processing memories and emotions. The brain also goes through a 'clean-up' process, removing harmful proteins that could lead to conditions like Alzheimer's. So when you’re thinking about prioritizing your sleep, remember that robbing your brain of adequate sleep hampers its essential housekeeping.
That's it for this week's sleep news highlights. Stay tuned for more exciting updates on optimizing your sleep and health, and remember to follow @lagoonsleep on Instagram for your daily dose.
