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- The Sleep Endemic Among Elite Athletes
When athletes are sleep deprived, something dangerous happens — and it’s not what you think.
They become severely impaired while simultaneously becoming less able to recognize their impairment.
According to sleep expert Dr. Michael Grandner, by the time athletes recognize they’re 20–25% impaired, research shows they’re actually performing up to 70% worse than their baseline.
The Dangerous Disconnect
This isn’t just about feeling tired. It’s about a fundamental disconnect between how impaired athletes think they are and their actual level of impairment. This gap widens as sleep deprivation continues.
“The longer you’re impaired,” Dr. Grandner explains, “the less likely you are to tell the difference between your level of impairment and what you could have been.”
The Science Behind the Blind Spot
The problem compounds in three critical ways:
Performance deteriorates faster than perception
The new “normal” becomes recalibrated to a lower standard
Athletes lose the ability to recognize their peak potential
Why It Matters
This impairment affects:
Decision-making speed
Strategic thinking
Reaction time
Emotional regulation
Physical coordination
Recovery capacity
But perhaps most dangerously, it affects an athlete’s ability to recognize these changes are happening at all.
The Real-World Impact
Think about what this means in practical terms:
A basketball player who thinks their shot is “slightly off” when their accuracy has actually dropped by half
A fighter who believes they’re “a little slower” when their reaction time has deteriorated significantly
A quarterback who feels “mostly fine” but is missing crucial defensive reads
Breaking the Cycle
To combat this dangerous blind spot:
1. Prioritize Sleep Quality
Create a consistent sleep schedule
Develop a pre-sleep routine
Optimize your sleep environment
Use stimulus control principles (only use bed for sleep)
2. Build Recovery Into Training
Schedule practices around optimal sleep times
Avoid late-night training sessions
Plan naps strategically between sessions
Give athletes sleep education and resources
3. Monitor and Adjust
Track performance metrics regularly
Use quantitative measures to spot decline early
Adjust training load when sleep is compromised
Have coaches monitor for signs of fatigue
4. Create Team Sleep Culture
Schedule practices to allow 8–10 hours of sleep opportunity
Avoid early morning sessions when possible
Educate about sleep’s impact on performance
Make recovery as important as training
The Bottom Line
The most dangerous part of sleep-related performance decline isn’t the impairment itself — it’s our inability to recognize how impaired we truly are.
Your Challenge This Week
Create three objective performance measures you can track daily. Don’t rely on how you feel — measure what you can actually do. Track these metrics for two weeks, noting any patterns in relation to your sleep quality and quantity.
Remember: By the time you think you’re “a little off,” you might be way off. Don’t wait until you can feel it — by then, it’s too late.
Want more?
If you got this far, I bet you’ll enjoy the full interview I did with Dr. Grandner on the Exponential Athlete podcast. We talk about sleep hygiene, supplements to avoid, naps, and much more!
Check it out here:
Book Recommendation
Why We Sleep: https://amzn.to/3WQEtgG
This is my favorite book on all things sleep! It covers the science of why sleep is important, what disrupts sleep, and the most relevant protocols for getting the best nights rest of your life.
