Why Athletes Need Rest for Optimal Performance

Sleep, Sports Performance, and Recovery: Why Athletes Need Rest to Stay Fast, Sharp, and Healthy

For athletes, sleep is not just “time off.” It is part of training. When sleep is too short or poor in quality, the body and brain do not recover the way they should. That can lead to slower reaction time, reduced speed, lower accuracy, more mental errors, and faster fatigue. Over time, poor sleep can also raise the risk of illness and injury. Research reviews and sports medicine sources consistently show that sleep is a major part of performance, recovery, and long-term health.

Dr. Alexander Jimenez, DC, APRN, FNP-BC, often describes athletic recovery as more than just exercise and treatment. On his clinical platforms, he emphasizes an integrative model that combines chiropractic care, soft-tissue therapies, movement retraining, nutrition, and advanced diagnostics to help athletes recover and reduce recurring injury patterns. His public profile also highlights his dual licensure in chiropractic and family nurse practitioner care, which supports a broader view of athlete health.

Why sleep matters so much in sports

Sleep is when much of the body’s repair work happens. The Sleep Foundation explains that sleep helps tissue recovery, supports cognitive processing, improves mood, and lowers the risk of illness. Mass General Brigham also notes that deep sleep is especially important because the body repairs muscles best during this stage. Without enough deep sleep, athletes may not recover well enough to train or compete at the same level the next day.

Athletes often push hard in training, travel for games, wake early, or stay up late after competition. That makes it easier for sleep debt to build up. A review in Sleep Medicine found that sleep plays an essential role in physical performance, mental performance, injury risk, recovery, and mental health in athletes. Another 2024 systematic review found that acute sleep deprivation significantly impairs overall athletic performance, particularly in skill control, speed, and high-intensity intermittent exercise.

In simple terms, athletes who do not get enough sleep usually do not bring their best body or best brain to practice or competition.

How too little sleep hurts physical performance

When athletes miss sleep, physical performance often drops in ways they can quickly feel.

Some of the main physical effects include:

• Slower speed

• Lower skill control

• Slower reaction time

• Faster tiredness

• Weaker recovery between training sessions

• More trouble staying explosive late in the day

The 2024 meta-analysis on sleep deprivation in athletes found that acute sleep loss significantly reduces several aspects of sports performance. The biggest drops were seen in high-intensity intermittent exercise and skill control, followed by speed and aerobic endurance. The same review also found that skill control was among the areas hardest hit after poor sleep.

That matters in real sports settings. A small loss in speed, timing, or control can affect sprinting, cutting, throwing, serving, tackling, and landing mechanics. Even if an athlete feels “good enough,” the body may still be slightly off. Over a full game or hard training block, that can add up.

Mass General Brigham also explains that the body repairs muscles best when a large amount of time asleep is spent in deep sleep. If that stage is cut short, muscle repair may be incomplete, leaving an athlete feeling flat, sore, or less ready for the next session.

How poor sleep hurts focus, mood, and decision-making

Athletic success is not just physical. Sports require fast processing, smart choices, and emotional control. Sleep loss affects all of those.

The Sleep Foundation states that sleep loss is linked to worse cognitive function, poorer decision-making, more risk-taking, and higher irritability. It also notes that healthy sleep supports a better mood and lowers the risk of anxiety and depression.

The sports performance review in Sleep Medicine found that sleep restriction negatively affects attention and reaction time. It also reported that too little sleep can impair executive function, including decision-making in fast-moving situations.

Mass General Brigham adds that when sleep is poor, weakened brain signaling can affect decision-making, reaction time, and how quickly an athlete moves their muscles. In competition, that can show up as:

• Late reads

• Poor shot choices

• Slower first-step reactions

• Missed timing

• Reduced accuracy

• More emotional frustration

These are not small issues. In many sports, split-second decisions decide the outcome of a play.

Sleep loss, illness, and injury risk

One of the most important reasons athletes need sleep is injury prevention.

A PubMed-indexed study in Pediatrics found that sleep deprivation was associated with higher injury risk among adolescent athletes. The American Academy of Cardiovascular Sleep Medicine summarizes new evidence showing that athletes who sleep fewer than 7 hours per night have about 1.7 times the risk of musculoskeletal injury compared with better-rested peers. It also reports that athletes averaging more than 8 hours of sleep on weekdays had substantially lower odds of new injury than athletes sleeping less.

The broader athlete sleep review also identifies insufficient sleep as a risk factor for injury.

Poor sleep can also raise the chance of getting sick. The Sleep Foundation notes that poor sleep habits are linked with lower resistance to illness, including the common cold. In athletes, sickness means missed training, lower energy, and slower recovery.

This creates a damaging cycle:

• Poor sleep causes worse recovery

• Worse recovery raises fatigue

• Fatigue affects movement quality and decision-making

• Poor decisions and poor movement increase injury risk

• Pain and injury then make sleep worse

That cycle can quietly wear athletes down across a season.

How much sleep do athletes need?

Most adults are told to aim for 7 to 9 hours of sleep. Athletes often benefit from being near the top of that range, and some elite athletes may need at least 9 hours regularly. On Dr. Jimenez’s sleep and athlete recovery content, he notes that recommendations for athletes generally range from 7 to 9 hours nightly, and elite athletes are encouraged to get at least 9 hours and treat sleep like training and diet.

That does not mean every athlete needs the exact same number. Training load, age, travel, stress, pain, and recovery demands all matter. Still, athletes who routinely sleep fewer than 7 hours are often at a disadvantage.

Where integrative chiropractic care may help

Chiropractic care should not be sold as a magic shortcut to athletic performance. A narrative review of the sports chiropractic literature found that there is insufficient strong evidence to demonstrate that chiropractic treatment directly and significantly improves sports performance on its own. That is an important point to say clearly.

However, that same review also explains why chiropractors may still play a meaningful role in sports care, especially as musculoskeletal specialists who help address pain, motion limits, and injury-related problems that interfere with performance and recovery.

This is where Dr. Alexander Jimenez’s clinical observations fit well. On his public site, he describes an integrative approach that combines:

• Spinal and joint adjustments

• Soft-tissue work, such as muscle release and stretching

• Functional exercise and movement retraining

• Nutrition support

• Advanced imaging when needed

• Broader medical evaluation through his dual-scope background

He reports that this model is used to reduce pain, improve range of motion, support healing, and lower the chance of recurring injury patterns.

From a practical standpoint, this matters for sleep because pain, stiffness, nerve irritation, and muscle tension often make it harder for athletes to rest well. When those issues are reduced, sleep may improve indirectly. So the stronger claim is not that chiropractic care directly “creates” elite performance, but that integrative chiropractic care may help remove physical barriers that disrupt sleep and recovery.

That is a more accurate and evidence-aware way to explain the connection.

Practical ways athletes can protect sleep and recovery

Athletes do not need a perfect routine to improve sleep. They need a consistent one.

Helpful strategies include:

• Aim for a regular sleep and wake time

• Protect at least 7 to 9 hours in bed, and often more during hard training

• Reduce late-night screen exposure

• Avoid heavy meals too close to bedtime

• Manage pain early instead of trying to “push through” everything

• Use recovery care for tight muscles, joint restrictions, and overuse problems

• Pay attention to stress, hydration, and nutrition

• Treat sleep like part of the training plan, not an extra

Mass General Brigham also notes that late-night eating habits can disrupt healthy digestion and nutrient absorption, making recovery harder.

Final thoughts

Athletes who do not get enough sleep usually perform worse, recover more slowly, and face a higher risk of sickness and injury. Sleep loss can slow reaction time, reduce speed, weaken skill control, increase irritability, and harm decision-making. Over time, even modest sleep restriction can create a chain reaction that affects training quality, performance, and durability.

Integrative chiropractic care can be part of the solution when pain, joint restrictions, muscle tension, and poor movement patterns contribute to poor rest and slow recovery. Based on his public clinical content, Dr. Alexander Jimenez approaches athletes from that broader recovery perspective by combining chiropractic care, soft-tissue work, nutrition, movement retraining, and advanced diagnostics when needed.

The main message is simple: sleep is not lost time. For athletes, it is one of the most powerful recovery tools they have.

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References

• American Academy of Cardiovascular Sleep Medicine. (2025, May 16). Sleep deprivation and increased risk of sports-related injuries.

• Charest, J., & Grandner, M. A. (2020). Sleep and athletic performance: Impacts on physical performance, mental performance, injury risk and recovery, and mental health. Sleep Medicine Clinics.

• Gong, M., et al. (2024). Effects of acute sleep deprivation on sporting performance in athletes: A comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis. Nature and Science of Sleep.

• Mass General Brigham. (2024, August 7). How does sleep affect athletic performance?

• Milewski, M. D., et al. (2014). Chronic lack of sleep is associated with increased sports injuries in adolescent athletes. Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics.

• Miners, A. L. (2010). Chiropractic treatment and the enhancement of sport performance: A narrative literature review. Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association.

• Sleep Foundation. (2025, July 29). How sleep affects athletic performance.

• Jimenez, A. (n.d.). Athletes and sleep: The key to performance and recovery.

• Jimenez, A. (n.d.). Chiropractic athlete rehabilitation care for sports injuries.

• Jimenez, A. (n.d.). El Paso, TX chiropractor Dr. Alex Jimenez DC | Personal injury specialist.

• LinkedIn. (n.d.). Dr. Alexander Jimenez DC, APRN, FNP-BC, IFMCP, CFMP, ATN.