As a reminder, today is the final day to submit questions for our Ask Stanford Med installment spotlighting sleep and athletic performance. Questions related to research on the subject and to sleep patterns or exercise habits can be submitted to Cheri Mah either by sending a tweet with the hashtag #AskSUMed or by posting a comment here. We'll accept questions until 5 p.m. Pacific time.
In our earlier post, we included details on Mah's research:
Sleep and sports are the focus of Mah’s work, dating back to a 2002 study during which collegiate swimmers reported they had beaten personal swim records after getting extra hours of sleep as part of their participation in the trial. A light bulb went off in Mah’s head, who decided then to investigate whether sleep extension could have an impact on physical performance. Since then she has researched the effects of sleep on numerous groups of athletes, including elite college-level basketball players (as detailed in a 2011 study), and she has two soon-to-be-published papers measuring the impact of sleep on Stanford football players and on NFL players. Over the last several years, Mah has also worked with many of the Stanford sports teams and coaches to integrate optimal sleep and travel scheduling into their seasons, and she consults on sleep issues with professional hockey, football and basketball teams.
Previously: Ask Stanford Med: Cheri Mah taking questions on sleep and athletic performance, Stanford expert: Students shouldn’t sacrifice sleep, A slam dunk for sleep: Study shows benefits of slumber on athletic performance, Could game time affect a baseball player’s at-bat success? and Want to be like Mike? Take a nap on game day
Photo by ASSOCIATED PRESS
