What a Sleep Expert Wants You to Know About Rest and Performance

Is sleep merely a passive state of unconsciousness? Far from it. While many of us might consider it simply ‘downtime’, it’s actually an incredibly dynamic and active period, underpinning our entire capacity for performance. It doesn’t matter if you’re an elite athlete striving for a personal best or juggling the relentless demands of a busy work and family life, the quality of your sleep profoundly impacts your physical and mental game. It’s during these vital hours that your body repairs, consolidates memories, and fine-tunes itself for the challenges ahead, making it anything but a passive process.

This intricate, often misunderstood, process is precisely why experts like Dr. Luke Gupta from the Better Sleep Clinic dedicate their work to optimising sleep for peak performance, whether he’s helping high-performing Olympic athletes nod off, or drilling into detailed metrics of high-flying Formula 1 drivers. He’s seen first-hand how understanding and harnessing sleep can provide a definitive competitive edge, and wants to share a few of his secrets with you.

Understanding Your Sleep

To truly harness this competitive edge and address common sleep challenges, we first need to grasp the fundamental mechanisms that govern it. “The core science of sleep represents an understanding of the machinery by which sleep operates and is regulated,” explains Gupta. This intricate process is fundamentally driven by two core mechanisms: the homeostatic drive to sleep, which builds up the longer we’re awake, and the circadian rhythm, our internal body clock that dictates our natural sleep-wake cycle. “By understanding these processes, one can begin to understand how, and why, their sleep might not be functioning as they would expect or want; and explain how it changes or adapts when it is challenged.”

He further elaborates on the nature of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, noting its “paradoxical” state where “we are physically paralysed during this state and yet our brain’s activity looks as if it were almost awake.” While we’re making strides in understanding these fundamental components, Gupta acknowledges that “what this means for wider recovery is still not fully understood,” highlighting the ongoing journey of understanding sleep science – a journey for him, and for you.

Should You Be Tracking Your Sleep Like a Workout?

With the rise of wearable tech, monitoring sleep metrics has become incredibly popular, yet Gupta urges caution against treating sleep data with the same outcome-driven intensity as exercise. While “sleep has been suggested to provide the perfect setting to measure heart rate indices,” largely because it’s a “quiet period” free from waking ‘noise’ like irregular breathing or posture, he warns that “heart rate indices are not good indicators [of] good or bad sleep.” In fact, he suggests that “sleep disruption can be a signal for stress or under recovery in of itself.” Furthermore, relying on isolated metrics such as “skin temperature, blood oxygen saturation or any blood markers” isn’t enough to accurately appraise sleep quality or effective recovery.

Gupta explains that “good sleep is represented by different dimensions – these are broadly considered as the quality, timing, and duration of sleep.” Crucially, he adds, “even with a broader understanding of sleep, it is difficult to know if sleep has been good, or not, without connecting it with daytime experience of performance and wellbeing.” This leads to a more nuanced perspective: “Don’t overestimate the impact of poor sleep on performance, but don’t underestimate the impact of sleep on wellbeing.”

He observes that “many misconceptions around sleep come from an understanding of sleep that is driven by a narrow view of sleep,” and one which is overplayed in people’s lives.” This can cultivate an unhealthy attitude, he continues, “bound up in treating sleep like it is a performance which [has] outcome goals to achieve and the need for it be optimal every night.” Ultimately, “what good sleep looks like for someone is individualised to the person in a very specific context, so a one-size-fits-all understanding of good sleep isn’t helpful.” If you find yourself consistently dissatisfied with your sleep, Gupta advises that “something is going on which can be explored further with support and guidance.”

Not All Data is Created Equally

Now, all this insight into sleep’s complexities might feel like “a lot to consider and can feel quite overwhelming for someone who is struggling with their sleep,” as Dr. Gupta acknowledges. The truth is, he says, “sleep works best when it is self-operating in the background and attended to infrequently.”

Simply put: it shouldn’t be another performance metric to agonise over. Ultimately, making sleep truly work for you “comes down to trust and confidence in that your sleep can occur readily and that it enables you to function as you expect in the daytime.” The key, however, lies in how you interpret and use the information you have access to. “By using sleep data in this way,” Gupta finishes, “individuals can become their own sleep scientists.”