Recovery Techniques for Athletes: Rest

Recovery is an aspect of performance, both mental and physical, that is often overlooked, yet can be incredibly influential. For athletes, recovery is a systematic physiological and psychological post-exercise process that allows the body and brain to replenish and rejuvenate. Recovery can be looked at through the lenses of rest, regeneration, and refueling. Here, we will look at sleep and psychological relaxation, which are the recovery principles behind rest.

Sleep

Restorative sleep has been shown to be one of the single most influential recovery tools available to athletes, so much so that in the U.K. the national cycling team has been known to ship preferred mattresses from location to location for team members to sleep on during long races. In equestrian sport, day to day demands, early competition times, and athletes often being on the road and staying in strange locations make restorative sleep a challenging prospect. There are certain techniques that can help, however, and should be prioritized. First, how much sleep do we need? The general rule of thumb is eight hours of sleep a night. This can vary slightly from individual to individual, but it has been shown that lack of sleep reduces cognitive function and physical reaction times. If you are regularly only getting five hours of sleep a night, you have some sleep homework to do! Here are a few tips to help.

1) Go to Bed Earlier

Write down what time you would need to go to bed and get up to get eight hours a night of sleep. In the equestrian world, since we generally need to get up early, this will mean going to bed earlier. When we first fall asleep, we go through a 90-minute cycle of deeper, non-REM sleep before going into REM sleep. From about 9 pm to 3 am sleep cycles are composed of deeper sleep, which is the most restorative. Sleep during the second half of the night consists of more REM dream sleep.

2) Turn Screens Off

As glued as we are to our electronic devices, this can be a hard one, but it has been shown that screen time just before bed and just after waking up can disrupt circadian rhythms. For example, watching TV just before going to bed has actually been shown to reduce quality of sleep. Try to disengage from screens such as laptops, tablets, smart phones, and televisions at least an hour before bedtime. Two hours is better. In the mornings, keep phones out of bed when you first wake up.

3) Limit Artificial Light

Artificial light from electronic sources can disrupt restorative sleep patterns. Try to dim interior lights in the hours before bed and use blackout curtains to block any exterior light from the outside when it is time for bed. Place devices that light up when plugged in out of sight from where you sleep. If it is difficult to block light from where you sleep, using a sleep mask is also an option.

4) Eat Early

Allowing your body time to digest dinner before bedtime will help promote a good night’s sleep. Generally try to have your last meal two to four hours before bed. It is also a good idea to understand what foods you might be sensitive to an avoid them on nights when sleep is important.

5) Use Weighted Blankets

Weighted blankets have been shown to calm individuals with anxiety. They offer deep pressure stimulation, which may help you stay asleep longer and wake up feeling more rested.

Psychological Relaxation

Incorporating better sleep habits into your daily routine will prove to beneficial both in day to day training and when you are on the road. Another dimension to the rest category of recovery is psychological relaxation. Chronic stress can cause increased systemic inflammation. As an athlete, it is important to teach your body how to ‘turn off.’ There are several techniques that can quickly help you tap into down regulating your sympathetic nervous system and finding a more psychologically relaxed state.

Breathing

Diaphragm breathing has been shown to reduce resting heart rates and promote calmness. One simple breathing exercise is to purposefully take five full breaths in through your nose while exhaling through your mouth. As you inhale, feel your diaphragm expand downwards and let your lungs expand outwards. With each exhale focus on all of the air leaving your lungs before you inhale again. Use this exercise anytime you are experiencing stress and listen for your body to relax!

Meditation and Mindfulness

Meditation and mindfulness have been used more and more in the arsenal of psychological recovery tools. Mindfulness is the ability to be fully present and aware of what we are doing. Critical aspects of mindfulness include checking in with ourselves and suspending judgment. Rather than woking from the perspective of right and wrong, try working from the perspective of a beginner’s mind. This promotes curiosity and openness. For example, rather than thinking of anxiety as a negative emotion, consider the mindset of, “I’m experiencing anxiety right now.” This statement is neither positive nor negative. It simply is. This mindfulness technique helps athletes to be less reactive to stimuli around them. In addition, evidence suggests that training your brain to be mindful actually remodels the physical structure of your brain, which can help you reach a neutral mindset more quickly as you practice.

Meditation is a technique used to guide the mind to a state of peace. There are different types of meditation. One simple example is guided meditation. In guided mediation, an athlete can use his or her imagination to picture a specific person, place or experience that generates feelings of happiness and relaxation. An example would be the image of sitting in the shade under a beautiful tree next to a babbling stream filled with fresh, clear water.

Laughing

Have you ever heard that laughter is the best medicine? Well, there is actually some truth to this! Whether it is a friend that makes you laugh, watching a funny show, or literally just being silly, laughing releases endorphins in our brain and helps us feel more optimistic. This is a great tool to keep in mind when considering recovery techniques!

All athletes who have longevity in sport have mastered certain aspects of recovery. Incorporating some of these tools and techniques into your training program will help with mood, focus, and mindset, as well as positive performance outcomes!