Something as simple as getting enough sleep can help boost your physical fitness confidence. Dutch researchers conducted a study with 11 men who performed a 20 minute cycle test twice, once after a sleep deprived night and then again with a full night of rest. After being tested, each cyclist was asked to estimate the distance he believed he travelled over the 20 minutes. Even though in both tests the men cycled around 5 miles, after the night of sleep deprivation the cyclists predicted they had travelled less compared to the night when they had a sufficient quality night of sleep.
The good thing to note is that even if you stay up with butterflies before a marathon, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll perform less than your abilities. Studies suggest that getting just one extra of sleep can improve your athletic performance so, miss out on snoozing on purpose.
While it may be nice to perform better than you expected, more sleep has been linked to better athletic performance as well. Always remember to sleep your best to be your best!
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