Get Proper Rest!

I have recently been working with Cheri Mah, a research assistant at Stanford University, who has worked extensively with Stanford University athletic teams in the area of how Sleep impacts performance on the playing field. She actually conducted a 10 week study with various athletes that demonstrated improved sleep patterns  showed a significant increase in performance in the following;  40 yard dash, agility, and reaction time.
 
I found her study to be fascinating!! To my understanding, there is no one in the world who has performed such a study. In fact, I was so intrigued by the results of her study she presented to me, I decided to participate in a Sleep program to improve my personal performance as a coach. Every week, I meet with Ms. Wah to go over my sleep log and to give her a special watch that I wear at bedtime. She downloads my daily sleep patterns into her computer and produces a report which details the exact amount of time I slept each night I wore the watch. Prior to going to bed each night, I record the time I actually go to bed and the time I wake up in the morning. Here is the cool part, according to my log, I thought I was sleeping between 6.5-7.5 hours. Well, once she produces the report on my exact sleep, it is between 5-5.5 hours. No wonder I hit a wall during mid-day!!
 
As I strive to improve my sleep patterns, I feel much better during the course of my day. In fact, I feel fantastic. Believe it or not, she recommends 9 hours of sleep daily to achieve optimum performance. Guess what, if you are not sleep deprived, you do not have to resort to artificial means of  producing energy such as coffee, red bull and the like. Sleep better to perform better!