After reading both The Sleep Solution and Why We Sleep, I’ve gotten better at accepting that I sleep…just not that long. Recently it’s been pretty rough because I’ve been listening to podcasts where athletes are saying it’s crucial they get 9 hours of sleep a night.
Fair enough, but what about those athletes that don’t get 9 hours of sleep a night? Are we just hamstrung because we’re not recovering enough? Are there any high-level athletes that get 6-7 hours a night (consistently) and improve year over year?
I know Dr. Walker and Dr. Winters disagree on this issue, but surely there are some people that only need 6-7 hours a night to recover sufficiently.
If I remember correctly, on a relatively recent podcast they talked about sleep a lot. And the main point was: everybody should get at least their 8 hours in. If people like Winston Churchill (I think it was him) proudly proclaim that they only need 5 hours of sleep, than that’s simply not true. (at least that’s what they said on the podcast in one of Chads delicious and well-backed-by-scientific-literature deep dives).
Maybe someone remembers the exact episode.
Do you have any clues why you only sleep 6-7 hours? is life demands? Or something elese that keeps you from sleeping? For instance, I live next to a construction site. They start at sharp 7am, so If I want to get those 8 hours, I have to be in bed at 11pm the latest.
Wonder how many of the people claiming 9hrs a night are actually getting that though… I’ve recently started using the sleep cycle app and despite spending about 8hr30 in bed I get much less actual sleep.
Agreed. I guess it’s like Chris Froome when he posted his breakfast a couple years back, the one that showed only protein and no carbs. There were people who went full Keto after seeing that one photo, believing it was the diet of champions when it was probably Froome trolling his competitors.
But recovery has been a huge topic recently and it’s all over the place in the cycling world. People have turned to supplements to get that 8+ hours of sleep a night and I feel pressured to do the same, I feel like I’m missing out on something because I’m constantly bombarded with the importance of sleep.
Am I tired? Yeah I’m tired, but that might be because I have 4 kids under 10 and a very stressful business to manage, not to mention putting in 7+ hours on the bike every week. I guess if you were to tell me that sleeping long and well was just a genetic trait, I wouldn’t be so frustrated with not getting that sleep
Yeah I remember that podcast, it was a while back and it made me read “Why We Sleep”; incidentally, that is a terrifying book to read and I don’t recommend it to anyone who has sleep problems.
As far as I can tell, my body just seems to get up after 6-7 hours of sleep. I can go to bed at midnight and wake up at 6/7, or I can go to bed at 11PM and wake up at 5/6 (like last night). I sleep well, I just don’t sleep 8 hours. The question is do I need that 8+ hours of quality sleep for health and performance reasons?
Yeah I’ve been thinking about taking the Whoop dive so I can track sleep and recovery. I’m currently using HRV4Training but it doesn’t really track sleep. I want to see if I’m actually sleeping during those 6-7 hours.
yeah good question. I mean every thing I hear on the TR podcast and other places says yes. But of course I am not even the faintest of an expert, just regurgitating what I heard in decently reliable places.
So If you feel fine, it’s probably easiest to not think about it too much.
Otherwise you could also experiment with the millions of advises they pumped out over the years.
(Superdark bedroom, weighted blanket, that funky cooling pad, no screentime few hours before bed etc.)
If the magical answer / meaning of life was “12 hours” would you be able to achieve that?
I get by on similar sleep to you and obsess about not getting enough - but have to remember I’m not a pro athlete, I’m holding down a stressful job and family / private life while finding time to get faster with chad’s medium volume extra stress plan and getting as much sleep as life currently allows
7 hours of sleep sounds like it’s very much within the normal range. The book why we sleep has received quite a lot of criticism for being inaccurate so don’t let it scare you.
Haha, I have them all. Weighted blanket (stopped using due to heat), the Ooler chili pad (love it!), and black-out blinds; you can’t tell it’s daytime even when the afternoon sun is on that side of the house.
I agree. I need to reign myself in but these successful athlete podcasts are just blowing me out of the water. Here are guys and girls that are “average joes” like you and me, 9-5 job (or more), kids, family, etc; but they’re making 80 watt gains in a year or bumping their FTP to 350 watts in a year. Where am I screwing up?!
I’ll have to look into that criticism. The only criticism I saw on the book (and agree with) is that the book basically scares you into thinking you’re going to die from lack of sleep, and then leaves you with no real solution.
It was definitely a game changer for me. I sleep very warm and we have a tempurpedic bed which really traps heat. I use the coldest setting on the Ooler and it definitely helps me stay asleep.
Ah nice. Yeah I’m a hot sleeper too. Often wake up pretty sweaty, even in the depth of winter with an open window.
look at that you came here to look for advice, and I actually walk away with one. Sorry for stealing
Not a whoop, but I think the sleep tracking from my fitbit is interesting and have noticed some trends, but I don’t find the information very actionable (maybe if I paid for premium??) I think it does provide some data that ‘confirms’ how I feel in the morning. For example I might not feel great in the morning even though I got a good amount of sleep, and can see that I only got 30min of deep sleep. Or I may feel great after 6.5hrs of sleep and notice I got 75-90min of deep sleep.
I’m in the 6-7 hours a night camp too. Sleep studies have the tendency to make me feel like I’m not getting enough sleep but I feel good, energy levels are fine, don’t get sick often etc so I try not to stress about it especially as most of us don’t have the luxury of choosing our exact sleep schedule due to work an family commitments (I’d also love to get weekly massages & drink a smoothie after every ride whilst relaxing in Normatec boots but life gets in the way). A couple points I’ve noticed: 1. I do something which the experts do not recommend and that is get one night per week of 8-9 hours sleep to “catch up” and around 6.5 hours the other nights. 2. I wear a Fitbit which analyzes sleep, I notice that on the nights I drink a glass of wine within a few hours of bedtime, I actually get better quality sleep (less restless, more rem/deep sleep) which goes against what the studies suggest.
I saw a video on Michael Phelps which suggested he often got some extra sleep during the day. Could you fit that in? Swimmers often train very early in the morning. I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t that uncommon for them to not sleep a full amount before rising. If you get up at 5am and want a full eight hours then that means sleeping from 9pm. I am skeptical as to whether they do that.
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. Yeah I heard good things about the ooler, maybe I should get one too