In the world of professional football, there are all sorts of marginal gains that a club can try to take advantage of. As much as dinosaurs like Richard Keys and Andy Gray might not like to admit it, everything from a set-piece specialist to a throw-in coach can help to make the difference in a sport of extremely fine margins.
It is with that in mind that some clubs have begun to look even closer at the difference that a good night’s sleep can make for their players, even going so far as to have beds in the stadium for them to use on a match day. The question is, what do footballers do and how much of an impact can sleep really have?
Footballers Think About Sleep as a Long-Term Thing
Nick Littlehales is an Elite Sports Sleep Coach who has worked with some of the most successful sports people ever over the years. From Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United team through to Team Sky’s cyclists that have enjoyed success in events such as the Tour de France, if there is a sporting team looking to discover how to earn some marginal gains then Littlehales is more than happy to help.
One of the key things that he looks to educate Premier League footballers about is the fact that you need to think about sleep over a longer period of time than just one night. Instead, it is about getting the correct number of cycles in during a day and a week.
Over the period of seven days, we should look to get in 35 sleep cycles. This doesn’t mean eight hours a night, but rather looking to get a phase of 90 minutes in when you can. A late night can be made up for by getting an extra cycle in the following night, or by fitting in a rest period during the day.
According to Littlehales, we have natural rest periods at midday and between 5pm and 7pm, which footballers look to take advantage of if they can. It isn’t just drifting off that can help, but also the likes of meditation or mindfulness, both of which can still count towards your weekly sleep cycle and help you recover both mentally and physically.
Of course, it isn’t just about finding time for sleep, players are also advised on the best equipment to use to get the best sleep. Yes, we say equipment because ultimately a good bed and mattress is all part of the tool kit today to find the fine margins that make winning teams and players. You can imagine players will not be given budget spring mattresses to sleep on but only top quality ones from the likes of Simba. They will likely also have double hybrid mattress toppers and top end bedding, whatever they need for the best nights sleep.
Arne Slot’s New Rules for Liverpool Players
When Jürgen Klopp was in charge of Liverpool, the players would be required to stay in a hotel in the city centre the night before a match. The idea was that this would allow the German to ensure that his players were getting a good night’s sleep prior to kick-off. The fact that he won 68 consecutive matches at home between 2017 and 2021, there is an argument that he knew exactly what he was doing.
The arrival of Arne Slot led to numerous changes for the players, with one of the key ones being his insistence that the sleep in their own bed before a home match. His logic being that a good sleep is more likely on a mattress that you know.
🔴 10 Games
✅ 9 Wins
⚽ 23 Goals
❌ 6 Clean SheetsThe Arne Slot era is well and truly underway… ⏳ pic.twitter.com/6aoSR5VGMF
— TheKop.com (@TheKop_com) October 5, 2024
That isn’t entirely without merit, of course. Numerous players have been known to take pillows with them when staying away from home prior to a big match at another club’s stadium, whilst some clubs insist on hotels having specific types of mattress on the beds that players will be sleeping in.
Neither Klopp nor Slot are the only managers to have certain ideas about a player and their sleep, as proven by Ferguson’s willingness to listen to what an expert on the subject has to say when he was trying to win everything with Manchester United. There is no single hard and fast rule, but it is an area that is being more readily explored by most.
Sleep Can Impact Physical Performance
The reality is that sleep can have a direct impact on a player’s physical performance. Quality sleep will obviously make a big difference to a player’s ability to play at their best, but a poor night’s sleep is just as likely to have an impact in the opposite direction. Sleep is just as important after a match as it is before kick-off, too.
Sleep aids the physiological recovery and reduces and muscle soreness, as well as increasing reaction time. Having a consistent sleep pattern is able to contribute to an athlete’s hormones and their workload management, promoting recovery after a heavy training session or a difficult match.
@traineffectiveofficial Mind over matter 🧠 #sleep #recovery #anxiety #soccer #fotball #mentality
Both the duration of a player’s sleep and the quality of it can have a direct impact on the likelihood of an injury. Good sleep can lead to reduced inflammation and fatigue, with sports science indicating that sleep can be important for the ability of the muscles, tendons and ligaments to improve.
Whether it be sticking to a strict sleep schedule or simply ensuring that the sleep that a player gets is as good as possible, it is a potential marginal gain that top-level football clubs would be mad to ignore. The more that we learn about sleep, the more that clubs are looking to harness its power in every way that they have available to them.