Reporter Han Bing reported that professional athletes in the 21st century can enjoy high-tech rehabilitation equipment such as hyperbaric oxygen chambers, ultra-low temperature treatment chambers, fascia guns and other high-tech rehabilitation equipment that their predecessors cannot imagine, while biotechnology has brought more reasonable sports diet programs, and electronic monitoring technology also provides the possibility of monitoring the players' body and training status at any time... All of this allows top professional athletes to reach a sports lifespan of 40 years that is difficult for their predecessors to achieve.
But ever since Liverpool created the "boot room legend" in the 1970s, the football community has realised the importance of adequate sleep. Coach Shankly was shocked by the team doctor's requirement for players to drink orange juice before going to bed: "I will not let the players ruin their dreams because they have to get up late to urinate." "Nowadays, sleep, along with physiotherapy, diet and mental health, is an essential part of the professional sports wellness team. Many clubs employ professional sleep consultants to ensure high-quality sleep for athletes and help them perform at their best.
The so-called sleep well, kick the ball kick until old.
Sleep should also be "professional"
Ana West of the Premier League's Brentford Club is a senior sleep science consultant focused on bridging the gap between sleep and exercise science. A nurse by training, she worked for a medical technology company in Sleep Sciences after graduating from university and was hired by Brentford Club in 2016 to oversee the sleep health of first-team players. She admits that when she first joined, most English clubs had a traditional mode of prioritizing training over rest: "Almost all clubs are equipped with advanced training equipment, but this professional football culture does not give players more opportunities to rest. Coaches are thinking more about how to improve the physical fitness and condition of the players while increasing the amount of training. ”
West defines his work as "targeted, data-backed, and personalized cognitive behavioral therapy" for players' sleep problems: "Young, healthy players theoretically have no sleep problems that require targeted treatment, but a significant number of people don't sleep well." "West evaluates the sleep of each player, she has her own unique evaluation system, and it is fully data-based and statistically significant. The results of the assessment used sleep quality as a criterion to divide the players into three categories, and she conducted a one-on-one dialogue to determine the root cause of the sleep problem and the solution.
"A player is always having a hard time falling asleep because of the buzzing in his brain, which makes him very tired and of course affects his daily training and physical condition. For this kind of person who can't close all the thoughts in his head as soon as he goes to bed, I need to understand his daytime life patterns, mental stress, what can make him awake and calm, whether he has a nap habit and how to hydrate. After collecting all the information, I will guide him to calm his mind, not only before going to bed, but throughout the day, so that his stress will be reduced and the problem of falling asleep will be solved. ”
In 2018, When Marcondes moved from Denmark to Brentford, he turned to West for help for serious sleep problems. After evaluating Macondes' physiological data using a wrist tracker, West's solution was shocking: instead of letting Macondes sleep longer, she asked him to get up after he couldn't sleep: "She told me that if I still couldn't fall asleep after half an hour of going to bed, I would go to the living room and draw my tattoo now, and then I would feel tired and sleepy. West also made the Dane use blackout curtains, asked him to avoid using any electronic devices before going to bed, and taught him some deep breathing techniques, which made The quality of Macondes's sleep significantly improved. The Danish midfielder became West's most successful example of sleep improvement.
West works closely with Caulfield, a sports psychologist hired by Brentford who has worked in sports such as horse racing and cricket for nearly 30 years, with coaches like Southgate and Dean Smith, and is equally concerned about quality sleep: "Every day on the training ground, the first thing I have to do is ask the coaches and players how they slept last night, which is the most important health inquiry. When our brains are unable to function fully due to lack of sleep, we all need to avoid continuing to use it. ”
Xhaka's "Sleep Backpack"
Artist Tyler Wood has created a video of David Beckham sleeping, which was filmed after an English star's training session at Real Madrid, when it was displayed at the National Portrait Gallery in the United Kingdom, and it was a sensation. In fact, as early as the 1990s, Manchester United coach Ferguson had already begun to pay attention to Little Hales, who pioneered the study of football sleep. This was followed by a flood of sleep aids, from Xhaka's custom pajamas to special sleep glasses. But West sees tech products as an aid, not a solution: "I'm a big advocate of technological progress, and the $10,000 sleep mattress or the portable device that monitors work and rest looks good, but they don't cure the symptoms." ”
Swiss star Xhaka is a classic example of sleep therapy, equipment sponsor Under Armour evaluated his sleep condition, provided him with a more comfortable mattress, replaced the lighting equipment of his London apartment, equipped with special glasses to reduce the blue light stimulation of the screen on the glasses when using electronic devices. In addition, Xhaka was provided with sheets and pajamas with ceramics in the fabric, a material that stimulates blood flow and keeps sleepers warm. Absorbing body heat and refluxing it back as far-infrared radiation can even relieve arthritis and menstrual pain. Each set of pajamas and sheets costs $200, which is not a big investment for professional athletes.
Xhaka brings a special "sleep backpack" with him for every away game: including soundproof equipment, a wireless sleep detector, eye masks, custom pajamas and sheets, and even a diary to record brain thinking activity before going to bed, so that the brain can calm down when falling asleep, and you can continue to organize your thoughts after waking up. Obviously, this is a very complete sleep improvement program, not just relying on high-tech equipment to help sleep. To get more sleep quality data, Xhaka and other Under Armour athletes, including boxer Joshua, were treated for sleep. The latter also spent a few days at Under Armour's innovation center in New Portland and slept for some time in egg-shaped sleeping pods developed by NASA, Google and some universities.
Most top athletes sleep less than 8 hours, which is due to long flights and jet lag in away games, not because of frequent training and competitions. Without enough sleep, the brain causes athletes to react less quickly. There is a very close link between sleep deprivation and the development of muscle damage, with players who slept less than 8 hours a night for 24 months have a 1.7-fold higher risk of injury.