Sleeping Through Stress

The Daily Habit For Doers

“When I’m running well it doesn’t feel like any effort, it’s smooth, almost peaceful.”

― Usain Bolt

When Usain Bolt heard the starting gun in New York in 2008, he was running for much more than 100m.

• He’d been eliminated in Athens four years ago…

• He’d quit the World Championships from injury…

• His coach didn’t want him to enter the 100m at the next Olympics…

And then… 

Bolt broke the world record.

You might know Usain Bolt as the man who won three Olympic golds in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay in Beijing a couple weeks later.

But you probably don’t know how close he came to never running at all.

And something else…

Right before the race that decided his future Usain Bolt spent all day asleep in his hotel room.

Yeah.

Can you imagine falling asleep before a life-changing event?

In fact, Usain Bolt napped before each of his gold medal wins at Beijing in 2008 too.

Let’s rewind for a second.

While other top athletes were pacing, stressing and talking over the game plan… 

Usain Bolt was napping out.

Then he wandered in, cracked jokes and jogged over the finish line in 1st place.

When journalists asked what his secret ingredient was, Bolt said:

👉 “Sleep.”

OK, here’s what I’m getting at.

Have you ever felt so nervous before a ‘big day’ that you can’t sleep?

I (Mike) recently launched a podcast.

I couldn’t sleep in the week leading up to the launch…

It made me think.

Do excitement, anxiety and nerves make us perform worse?

Here’s some findings for you:

• An athlete who sleeps more than 8 hours is half as likely to get injured as an athlete who sleeps less than 8 hours (Clinical Journal of Sporting Medicine)
  

• A Major League Baseball player who scores ‘low’ on a sleepiness test is twice as likely to be playing pro baseball 3 years later as players who score ‘high’ on sleepiness (American Academy of Sleep Medicine)
  

• A basketball player who gets 2 extra hours of sleep will be 5% faster and 9% more accurate with their shooting (Stanford University)

Sleep is the secret to high performance.

I know how hard it can be…

But you will be a better you when you meet your ‘big day’ fully rested up.

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