{"id":430904,"date":"2020-05-07T04:06:01","date_gmt":"2020-05-07T11:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=430904"},"modified":"2024-10-28T11:42:33","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T18:42:33","slug":"the-power-of-napping-and-the-feel-good-factor-that-may-be-key-to-the-swimmers-ability-to-nod-off-fast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/the-power-of-napping-and-the-feel-good-factor-that-may-be-key-to-the-swimmers-ability-to-nod-off-fast\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power Of Napping And The Feel-Good Factor That May Be Key To The Swimmers’ Ability To Nod Off Fast"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Power Of Napping & ‘Sleepability’ Are The Focus Of New Loughborough Research\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Just done another run and workout in the home gym, the flume or paddling pool in the backyard? Endured hours of home-schooling (as parent or child) while getting your own job done? Perhaps you’ve walked the dog, done the weekly shop or finally got to grips with that new hobby in between an umpteenth Zoom chat or webinar? You may well be up a ladder as I write, holding your hand over the water pipe you just drilled through trying to fix trellising abandoned long ago. Whatever life is like in lockdown, one thing unites us all: a good nap.<\/p>\n

Scientific studies show that\u00a0being tired doesn\u2019t guarantee a good sleep, while\u00a0napping has its light and dark too. It’s an art that swimmers tend to be pretty good at, not least because they’re among the hardest workers in world sport.<\/p>\n

How many recall a morning that started with a main set of 10x400s or 20x200s, included breakfast on the way to class and, a waft of chlorine never too far away, a desperate fight to keep heavy lids open during a lengthy appraisal of “the socioeconomic system of medieval Europe”, the sun spilling through the window a lesser foe than the teacher chucking chalk at you?<\/p>\n

Little did those chalk chuckers know that the swimmer knew best. Napping is not only a part of an aspiring Olympian’s job, it’s the spark that relights the fire for the next task ahead. Take this lot: great nappers include Leonardo da Vinci<\/strong>, who would take 15-minute naps every four hours throughout the day and sleep less at night. Aristotle, Napoleon Bonaparte, Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, Thomas Edison, Eleanor Roosevelt<\/strong> and Benjamin Franklin<\/strong> all got it too.<\/p>\n

Then there were the champion micro-nappers, like Salvador Dali<\/strong>, the artist whose afternoon nod-offs were designed to last no longer than a single second. Dali would sit in a chair with a hefty metal key held between thumb and forefinger; the moment he fell asleep, the key would fall from his grip and he would awaken \u201crevivified” in mind and body.<\/p>\n

Albert Einstein<\/strong> had a similar technique, sitting in his chair holding a pencil or a spoon as he dozed off, the eventual and inevitable clatter his alarm. No napper is like another, however, and Einstein also understood the power of sleep: he liked to get 10 hours a night in to rest his racing mind.<\/p>\n

The Racing Mind – A Tale Of Two Mindsets<\/h2>\n

According to a new study from a team at Britain’s Loughborough University, training, fatigue and napping are not the most straightforward of bed fellows. It turns out, according to Luke Gupta, Kevin Morgan, Courtney North & Sarah Gilchrist<\/strong> in their paper “Napping in high-performance athletes: Sleepiness or sleepability?<\/a>”\u00a0(work carried out with the English Institute of Sport and are published in the European Journal of Sport Science), that\u00a0athletes are no more tired than the rest of us – they’re just much better at nodding off.<\/p>\n

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Ryan Lochte – Photo Courtesy: Twitter, @RyanLochte<\/p><\/div>\n

The ability to get to sleep and the quality of sleep count. Surveys have shown that elite athletes are regular nappers. Here’s what former USA teammates and medley sparring partners Michael Phelps<\/strong> and Ryan Lochte<\/strong> once said:<\/p>\n

“I guess I probably got to sleep at 3am and I was on an 11am bus. Quick turnarounds but the good thing is we have a long time between prelims and finals, so hopefully I can get home, get a quick nap in and be ready for tonight.” – Phelps<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re the best nappers because I think swimming is one of the hardest sports to train for. You\u2019re using every muscle in your body. You keep doing that day in and day out. You get worn down. It\u2019s a lot easier to nap because you\u2019re always tired.\u00a0Usually with my schedule, you train then you have weights. I\u2019m usually so exhausted from morning practice that it\u2019s so easy to take a nap. I try to get an hour and a half in. That\u2019s the perfect ideal nap time.” – Lochte<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Napping For The Feel-Good Factor<\/h2>\n

For their study into the power of napping<\/strong>, the Loughborough team invited three groups of 10 people (16 men and 14 women) to pop into the lab at the university and see if they could take a 20-minute nap. Of course, being asked to take a nap and just taking a nap involve a nuance of difference but that aside, the experiment was straight cut. The visitors were split into three groups:<\/p>\n