#Sleep expert ucla plus#
#Sleep expert ucla professional#

Naps are not a replacement for consolidated and healthy sleep at nighttime. Naps can give you a temporary improvement in alertness and performance for a few hours. For athletes, I do recommend pre-game naps. If you take longer naps – 45 minutes or more – you can go into deeper stages of sleep, and when you wake up, you may experience sleep inertia, where you feel more sluggish and worn down. Caffeine has a half-life of about six hours, so it’s best to cut out caffeine in the late afternoon and evening.” “Alcohol fragments sleep, particularly in the early morning hours. “Drinking alcohol or caffeine at nighttime can impact sleep,” Mah said. Reduce your intake of alcohol and caffeine. For cool, set your temperature at 60 to 67 degrees.”ĥ. For darkness, I recommend blackout curtains some people prefer eye masks. “You want it to be really dark, quiet and cool as well as comfortable. Many individuals don’t have a routine and they’ll jump into bed and have a racing mind (and difficulty sleeping).” For athletes, I recommend stretching or yoga. “Reading is great – a real book, not an iPad or phone that emits blue frequencies of light, which can negatively impact sleep. “A 20- to 30-minute wind-down helps you transition to sleep,” Mah said. “As a reminder, set a daily alarm on your phone to go off 30 minutes before you want to start your wind-down routine.” “Our bodies like regularity and will anticipate sleep with a regular sleep schedule,” Mah said. Maintain a regular bedtime and wake-up time. There are individual differences in daily sleep needs, however, so you may need eight hours or nine-plus hours to feel rested and alert throughout the day.”Ģ. “For the everyday person, you’ve got to hit at least seven hours of rest every night.

#Sleep expert ucla plus#

“For elite athletes, we recommend eight to 10 hours plus every night,” Mah said. Elite athletes should get even more.Īn adult needs at least seven hours of sleep per night to avoid the health risks of chronic inadequate sleep, according to a 2015 recommendation by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society. To step up your game, follow Mah’s six tips for better sleep.ġ.

#Sleep expert ucla professional#

A growing list of professional teams in the NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB are turning to Mah to fine-tune their athletes’ sleeping schedules.Īnd while her advice might not transform the rest of us into the next Stephen Curry or Andre Iguodala, “healthy sleep is important for everyone,” said Mah, a Clinical and Translational Research fellow with the UCSF Clinical and Translational Science Institute. She applies her expertise to help the world’s best athletes gain a competitive edge. Anthony Luke on sleep and performance in elite athletes. William Dement, conducts research at UCSF’s Human Performance Center with Dr. Mah, who studied under Stanford sleep guru Dr. UC San Francisco sleep expert Cheri Mah, who consults with the Golden State Warriors and other elite athletes, has found that extended sleep can improve free-throw and three-point shooting by 9 percent. Do you want an easy way to improve your game? Get a bit more sleep, and the results could surprise you.