Sleep: The Cornerstone of Athlete Well-Being

Athletes are taught early in their careers that sleep is essential for peak performance. Coaches and trainers routinely emphasize how adequate sleep supports energy levels, reaction time, and physical recovery. Yet the role of sleep extends far beyond athletic output alone. Sleep profoundly influences mental health and should be viewed as the foundation for attention, motivation, emotional regulation, and psychological resilience in athletes.

A Brief Refresher on Sleep

Sleep is not a passive state of rest but an active, restorative process during which the brain and body repair tissue, consolidate learning, and regulate neurobiological systems critical to mood and cognition. In the general population, most adults require 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night. Athletes, however, face increased physical, cognitive, and emotional demands, and evidence suggests that optimal sleep duration for this group may be closer to 9 to 10 hours per night.¹ Extended sleep supports enhanced muscle recovery, hormonal regulation, and the processing of both physical and psychological stressors encountered during training and competition.

Quantifying Sleep

Sleep hygiene education is commonly introduced early in athletic development, but in recent years, public awareness of rest and recovery has expanded significantly. Wearable technologies and consumer products, such as biometric trackers, mattress cooling systems, and white noise devices, reflect a growing cultural emphasis on sleep as a pillar of well-being.

While these tools can offer useful insights, they may also introduce unintended consequences. Many athletes develop anxiety around achieving ideal sleep metrics, which can paradoxically disrupt sleep itself. A perfectionistic focus on sleep scores may increase arousal and stress, undermining recovery. Clinicians should encourage athletes to use sleep-tracking tools as supportive guides rather than rigid performance benchmarks, emphasizing flexibility and overall trends rather than nightly perfection.

Sleep and Athlete Mental Health

A growing body of research highlights the strong association between sleep disturbance and adverse mental health outcomes in athletes. Collegiate student-athletes who report chronically poor sleep are significantly more likely to experience elevated stress levels and symptoms of depression.²

Sleep deprivation also impairs executive functioning, emotional regulation, and attentional control. Studies demonstrate that insufficient sleep is associated with reduced self-control, heightened emotional reactivity, and increased distractibility.³ In athletic contexts, these deficits may present as impulsive decision-making, increased frustration during competition, and difficulty tolerating pressure. Conversely, adequate and consistent sleep supports cognitive clarity, emotional stability, and sustained focus.

Practical Strategies to Improve Sleep

Athletes can adopt several evidence-based strategies to improve sleep quality, including:

• Maintaining a cool, dark, and quiet sleep environment
• Keeping consistent bedtimes and wake times, including on weekends
• Limiting screen exposure before bedtime
• Prioritizing nighttime sleep and restricting naps to earlier in the day
• Incorporating stress-reduction practices such as mindfulness or relaxation techniques
• Avoiding caffeine in the evening
• Limiting alcohol consumption

Over time, these small behavioral changes can produce meaningful improvements in both physical recovery and mental well-being.

Consistency Over Perfection

Even highly disciplined athletes encounter obstacles to maintaining consistent sleep routines. Early-morning practices, late competitions, travel demands, academic pressures, and environmental factors, such as shared living spaces, can all disrupt sleep. It is important to normalize variability and emphasize consistency rather than perfection. A compassionate, long-term approach to sleep habits is more sustainable and clinically effective.

Key Takeaway

Sleep is more than a recovery tool. It is a core mental resilience strategy. By prioritizing sleep as an essential component of training, athletes support not only physical readiness but also emotional regulation, cognitive performance, and overall psychological health.

Dr Kurtz is a board certified psychiatric nurse practitioner actively practicing in New York City and is focused on providing comprehensive mental health care to current and former athletes. She is currently a research fellow for Athletes for Hope, where she also serves on their research committee.

Dr Mirhom is past president of the New York County Psychiatric Society, an assistant professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University, a Forbes contributor, and Chief Wellbeing Officer at Athletes for Hope.

References

1. Mah CD, Mah KE, Kezirian EJ, Dement WC. The effects of sleep extension on the athletic performance of collegiate basketball players. Sleep. 2011;34(7):943-950.

2. de Souza NL, Esopenko C, Conway FN, et al. Patterns of health behaviors affecting mental health in collegiate athletes. J Am Coll Health. 2021;69(5):495-502.

3. Luqman A, Masood A, Shahzad F, et al. Untangling the adverse effects of late-night usage of smartphone-based SNS among university students. Behaviour & Information Technology. 2020;40(15):1671-1687.