After seeing the author of Sleep, Nick Littlehales, on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch show, and suffering from poor sleep patterns for a while, as well as a large amount of caffeine to get me through my day, I ordered his book straight away.
Having worked with some of the best athletes in the world, including Manchester United, Real Madrid and Team GB cycling, it was very interesting to see how sleep, and sleeping right, is considered as important a part of an athletes preparation, as eating and training right is.
His approach to sleeping in cycles, not hours, and how to work this into your daily life so as not to let yourself worry when you don’t get a full night’s sleep is a real eye opener.
On top of his advice on mattresses, sleeping positions, using electrical devices before bed amongst other things – it makes you think about bedtime in a totally different way.
I’ve already started implementing some of his advice, and have invested in a sunrise alarm, so I can begin to train my body to wake up at the same time every day without needing an alarm, and with the shortest day of the year nearly here I can definitely see the difference at waking up already.
A very interesting read, especially for sports fans who want an insight into how athletes prepare for competing.
