Sleep: Performance Enhancing Drug Extraordinaire


Note to self: If you get more sleep, you’ll better at doing whatever you are trying to do. The San Francisco Chronicle publishes the results of an interesting study in today’s paper. Stanford researchers asked a group of basketball players to get 10 hours of sleep, instead of the recommended eight, for several weeks. Not only were they a full second faster with more sleep, they improved their free throw and three-point shot accuracy by nine percent. Researchers say they were stunned to see such a leap in performance, especially from athletes who were already considered to be in peak physical condition. They say their findings are an indication that people tend to “underestimate the impact of sleep deprivation.”

Read an abstract of the study, published in the journal Sleep.

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