Soccer Fitness: The Symbiotic Relationship between Sleep and Soccer Fitness

Eating lots of fruits and vegetables are key to maintaining vitality and health. They also help reduce oxidative stress. Healthy, fit players will win more matches. It’s as simple as that. How many times have you seen a close game decided in the last 10 minutes because one team is fit and the other is running out of energy? Just by getting the proper intake of fruits and vegetables in your everyday diet you can help give yourself a fighting edge in the last 10 minutes of the match. Of course, I know that most clubs will not have a fitness trainer or a fully equipped gym. But there is a lot you can do to improve your soccer fitness, and your overall health practices. I tried and found that incorporating Juice Plus in my everyday diet help me bridge the gap between what I was eating and what I should be eating.

Eating the proper amount of fruits and vegetables is key to your overall health and fitness, but simply by getting the proper amount of sleep you can do wonders for your muscles. A good night of sleep is vital to a soccer player's physical and mental preparation for a game and his career. Although the amount of time that a player spends on fitness training and honing their basic skills is essential to improving performance, scientific research has shown that there is no substitute for a good nights’ sleep. If you are a coach reading this, you might not feel as though this is your role to control your players sleeping habits, but if your players seem to lack a healthy sleeping pattern, you need to advise them on the best way to address the problem. That is if they want to perform at the highest level of performance and if they want be professional players.

Deep sleep is not solely associated with rest, as it also replenishes and strengthens joints, bones and muscles through the release of growth hormones. As a coach you should use this point to promote the physical benefits of sleep to your players. It is probably the simplest and most straight forward way for a player to achieve a marked improvement in performance. Research has shown that sleep deprivation can lead to an 11% reduction in performance that can be visible through a variety of symptoms:

• Less energy and lower performance levels
• Can’t be bothered or annoyed attitude
• Reduced short-term memory

And here are also a few Do´s and Don´ts:
DO´s

• Make sure players relax before bed. They should avoid anything that is mentally or physically exerting beforehand.
• Listen to your body. Go to bed when you actually feel like you are tired.
• Eat foods such as beans, peas, nuts, vegetables and cereals can improve sleep.
• Consider going to bed an hour earlier before a match.
• To help promote sleep. A hot or cold shower or bath before bed can help as changing body temperature shortly before bed can lead to better sleep.

DON´TS

• Players should avoid huge meals mid evening, as leaving it too late to take food on board can lead to a bloated stomach. This is the last thing a player needs in preparation for bedtime.
• Players shouldn’t drink tea or coffee past mid afternoon.
• Players shouldn’t consume alcohol before bed before a match. Although alcohol can make players feel drowsy, it doesn’t necessarily lead to a peaceful sleep. This can be hard as a coach to control for his adult players, but limiting their intake to moderate amounts can help.
  
• Neither should players go to bed hungry, particularly after training, so eat something light as a hungry stomach can disrupt sleep.

For good sleep and body recuperation you need total quiet, a dark, cool and well ventilated room, and a good-sized bed. Everything stated in this article may not work for everyone, but as a rule of thumb, I would use this as a basic guideline or frame work to achieving your soccer fitness in one of the most basic and fundamental was possible. Good Night Sleep! More on soccer fitness to come, so keep checking in.