7 Reasons Why Outdoor Athletes Need a Better Bed
Sleep is incredibly important for anyone. A good night’s rest helps recharge the mind and the body and allows you to get through your day. It helps with your daily motivation, thinking, focus, regulating stress, and many other important functions. For some people, getting the right amount of sleep is even more important. Hikers, for instance, absolutely need proper sleep to be able to perform at their best. If you are an outdoors sportsman such as someone who does rock climbing or hiking regularly who needs an edge, it might be that getting better sleep on a regular basis could do the trick. One of the most important factors in getting a good night’s rest is having the right bed. Here are 7 reasons why outdoor athletes need a better bed to get better sleep.
Reduced Chance of Injury
Studies have shown that the body is more prone to injury when it is not properly refreshed and rested. For those who are active with outdoor recreational sports, this is even more important. Rock climbers put stress on their bodies through actions like physical contact while climbing and with impacting the ground while running and jumping between walls and obstacles. If a rock climber competes without at least 6 hours of proper rest, it can affect their reaction time. This can leave them open to collisions, or they may not be able to avoid a misstep that can lead to an injury.
Boosted Speed and Precision
Your body performs better when it is properly recharged. This means that muscles can perform at their full potential. Not only that, but it can better perform precision actions. Outdoor atheltes tend to bike better when they have slept better. If your body is a machine, then sleep helps to provide the fuel and the oil to make sure it is running smoothly. For many outdoor sportsmen, precision is incredibly important, and if an athlete is off by even the tiniest bit, it can make a huge difference or worse, it can cost you your life. If you are in dangerous places such as a climber climbing unroped, this can really matter.
Improved Reaction Times
Most mountain bikers know: riding tired is like driving drunk. Your senses are dulled, and you cannot react quickly to sudden situations and can easily fall and injure yourself. Would you want to compete in a race in that state? Being fatigued means that your reaction time could be severely reduced. This means that you may not be able to react quickly while speeding downhill or properly dodge an underlying tree branch or rock on the trail. To be an elite outdoor athlete at just about any team sport, whether it’s mountain biking or not you need to be able to react in milliseconds to what is happening at all times. Being fatigued will take that edge from you.
Better Recovery
As great as regular exercise and intense physical activity is for you, it can also be damaging for your body. It needs the proper recovery time to rest and heal. When you are in deep sleep, your body releases certain hormones that help with healing. They help with repairing muscle, developing your bones, and even oxidizing fat. Without sleep, your body will not be able to keep up with other elite performers.
Improved Quick Decision Making
Reaction time means that your body will quickly perform an action in response to something that happens. This is different than making decisions. Think of a guide who is whitewater rafting and must decide what to do during a dangerous situation, who to rescue first as the crew hangs on to a flipped raft, and how to mitigate injury to the rest of the team so they aren’t overexerting themselves to death. Having the best judgment possible is often a matter of getting the right sleep. Making good decisions can mean the difference between losing a life or saving them all.
Improved Health and Weight
To be an elite outdoor athlete, you need a healthy body and it helps to maintain a healthy weight. You may already exercise and train regularly, and eat the right foods, but sleep is just as important to health and weight as diet and exercise. Getting poor sleep leads to weight gain, as the body does not oxidize fat as well while you’re awake. So yes, sleeping better can help you lose weight!
Longer Career
Let’s face it, if you are an elite outdoor athlete who is or wants to be a professional, then you also want as long a career as possible. Studies have shown that athletes who do not regularly get the right amount of sleep have shorter performing careers. The difference between being a long-time professional athlete and a short-term professional athlete is incredibly small. If all of the factors listed above are damaged by not sleeping, then you could find yourself on the outside looking in.
As you can see, one of the best things you can do as an outdoor athlete is getting the right amount of sleep, and also the best quality of sleep possible. That’s where your choice of bed comes in. Sites like EachNight can help you find a bed fit for an active outdoor athlete. If you do not have a bed that allows you to sleep deeply every night, you will lose an invaluable edge over your opponents or can lead to a serious injury. As unbelievable as it sounds, choosing the right bed could mean life or death difference out in the field.
