Hello and welcome to Kids Talk Sleep!
Do you want to hit more basketball shots? Are you aiming for more home runs? Do you want to score more soccer or hockey goals? Sleep will help you achieve your goals. Kids 6-12 years old need between 9-12 hours of sleep to perform their best on the sports field. Let’s look at what the research shows us.
There are a few research studies that help us understand how sleep helps us perform better. There is a research study in which college tennis players slept less than usual. They did not serve as well as usual. They were less accurate, less alert and more sluggish. This could mean more missed shots.
There is another study which shows us that 6-12 year old athletes who regularly sleep less than eight hours a night are 1.7 times more likely to sustain an injury or get hurt.
Here is a list of negative effects of not getting enough sleep: Slower reaction time, less accuracy, less vigor, less strength, less endurance, worse judgment and bad decision-making.
We want to play our best till the end, right? Well then, there’s great news!
Sleep extension or sleeping more than usual, can positively affect or improve reaction times, improve sprint times, improve tennis serve accuracy, speed up swim turns, better kick stroke efficiency, increased free throw and 3-point accuracy and being in a better mood.
Try your very best to get a lot of sleep every night. If you are between 6 and 12 years old, you and your parent can figure out how much sleep you need to play your best sports games; most likely it is about 10 hours.
Thanks for listening! Keep growing with sleep!
