Sleep

Sleep is one of the most powerful recovery tools an athlete has: much of the body's repair and adaptation happens during it, and it supports skill learning, immunity and mood.

Athletes are often short of sleep, squeezed by early training, late competition, travel, screens and ordinary life. Sleep is a modifiable factor in recovery, performance and injury risk, so asking about it belongs in every assessment of an athlete who is not recovering, has plateaued or keeps getting injured.