Neeraj Chopra had to spend most nights at the Olympic village tossing and turning in bed before his gold medal winning effort at the Tokyo Games. Jet lag, a late evening visit by anti-doping sleuths and anxiety were reasons he couldn’t even catch forty winks. The javelin thrower wasn’t alone in dealing with this ordeal. Invariably, at the heart of every success or failure story at the world’s grandest sporting spectacle is a sleepless Olympian.
And so, at the July 26 to August 11 Paris Olympics, the Indian contingent will be accompanied by an expert who will ensure that the athletes aren’t sleep-deprived. Europe’s long daylight hours in July-August, the Olympics months, too can play tricks with the minds of those not used to the sun rising as early as 4 am and setting as late as 11 pm.
For the first time, the Indian contingent will have a ‘sleep advisor’ as part of a sports science team at the Olympics. In addition, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA)-appointed medical team is likely to install sleeping pods inside the Games Village, giving the athletes exclusive access. The entire team will also be given a ‘travel sleeping kit’ to help them doze off.
Dr Monika Sharma, an expert in optimising sleep for performance and recovery in sportspersons who will be travelling to Paris as the sleep advisor, called the decision “groundbreaking and forward-thinking”.
“The aim essentially is to develop an environment which is sleep conducive. The Olympic Village is a stressful environment; not ideal sleeping conditions. We will support and help the athletes in coping with the challenges and mitigate their consequences,” Dr Sharma said.
A fellowship from the University of Pennsylvania, she said anxiety in the build-up to the Olympics, the pressure of competition, the adrenaline rush and the energy and excitement of the Athletes’ Village are all “disruptions to sleep”.
Dr Sharma has already begun consultations with India’s athletes, travelling across the world to meet them in person and “help them identify their challenges and remove some of the barriers to good sleep”.
In her initial conversations, Dr Sharma said she observed that “ignorance about sleep is quite profound” among athletes. Her first step has been to educate them and then design “sleep strategies” where the quality of sleep will be prioritised over the number of hours.
Keeping their identities confidential, Dr Sharma said she’s classified the athletes into three categories: the ones who are alien to this concept, a bunch who have experienced sleep deprivation at previous Olympics and are ready to talk, and those who are so obsessed with the idea of winning that they are willing to take any help that comes their way.
“At this level, where skills and expertise are pretty high, athletes are looking to get an edge. Getting optimum sleep, and restorative sleep definitely gives them that edge. We want to remove any element of luck and unpredictability,” she said.
In Paris, the athletes are likely to face challenges that go beyond the usual ones at an Olympics. The high summer temperatures predicted during the Games in the French capital are seen as another potential cause for sleep disruption, especially since the rooms at the Athletes Village do not have fans or air-conditioners.
“We are gearing up to cover this aspect. We are designing a travel sleep kit for our athletes to make them comfortable. It will have sleep masks, travel pillows and ear plugs, among other things,” Dr Sharma said. “Another novel investment we are making is we are also looking at providing them with sleep pods. They are an additional opportunity for athletes to down-regulate and supplement their sleep, which we know will be compromised to some extent.”
Indeed, sleep is often at a premium at the Olympics, one of the biggest casualties in an athlete’s pursuit of a podium.
The night before Abhinav Bindra won independent India’s first Olympic gold, he couldn’t catch a wink. In the build-up to the 2016 Rio Olympics, the International Olympic Committee’s research revealed that nearly 49 per cent of athletes surveyed admitted they’d been “poor sleepers”.
Citing data gathered by global studies, Dr Sharma said “tiny tweaks in sleep management can lead to drastic improvements”.
“Data suggests it improves athletes’ reaction time by 11 per cent, jump height by 10 per cent and sprint performance by 4 per cent,” she said.
Conversely, she added that studies reveal “68 per cent (of athletes) are more likely to suffer injuries when they are competing or training if they are not sleeping well as compared to those who prioritise sleeping”.
“From a physical standpoint, muscle recovery, tissue repair… all the growth and healing, the magical things take place in sleep. Hence we need to protect and prioritise sleep,” she said.
