Ask Olympians what keeps them awake at night and many, without irony, will say sleep problems . In fact, sleep issues topped the list when US Olympic team psychologists checked in with every Olympian about their mental health concerns earlier this year. “As you mature as an athlete, you realise just how important sleep is,” said sprinter Gabby Thomas.
“Not just to be an elite athlete, but just to be a functional human.” A silver and bronze medalist at the Tokyo Games and heavily favoured to medal again in the 200 metres in Paris, she studied sleep as a neurobiology undergraduate at Harvard University and then for her master’s degree from the University of Texas. Now, she said, “I will never go under eight hours a night.
” Sleep is essential for athletes because during slumber the body consolidates new skills and starts repairing worn tissues, said Geoff Burns, a sports physiologist with the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee..