A new study suggests that getting more sleep at night may increase running speed and reaction time.
In the study, subjects were first assessed for their speed and reaction time in order to create baseline measurements. Next, these subjects were instructed to increase their daily sleep by 2 hours per night every day for a week. After the week, the subjects were retested and demonstrated significantly improved speed and reaction time.
Conclusions
Unfortunately, this study suffers from serious limitations. The lack of control group means that the results may have been due to confounding factors (such as the subjects becoming habituated to the tests) or the placebo effect. Thus, it is impossible to draw any firm conclusions from this study.
That being said, sleep has been shown to have a profound effect on the nervous system, and thus it would not be at all surprising if the subjects’ improvements were in fact a result of the increased sleep. For those who wish to physically perform at their best, getting more sleep at night may be immensely beneficial.
References
1 Mah CD, et al. The effects of sleep extension on athletic performance of collegiate basketball players. Sleep. 2011 Jul; 34(7): 943-50.