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I have noticed lately that many polevaulters i know have trouble sleeping at night. I find it pretty strange. We workout a lot, eat right, stick to pretty good schedules. not really late night people or partiers. but when its time to lay down and fall asleep, nothing happens.

in high school i never had such problems, and neither did my teammates. However my freshman year, about midway through my first semester of traveling to meets, i really struggled to fall asleep at night. i thought maybe it was just dorms. but many years later different beds, temperatures, etc etc. still often have trouble sleeping

and the more i look around, and ask around. the more shocked i am to hear how many vaulters (both here at vt and almost every school where i know people) struggle to sleep. now i haven't really asked around for non athletes

but im wondering if for some of us, the internal and external pressures of training and competing at a desired level begins to affect us in other ways

anyone out there share similar problems? thoughts and discussion are def. wanted here. what do you guys think

Drink more water. One of the leading causes of difficulty sleeping is dehydration. I learned that one from Stew.

I usually push myself to stay up until I am exhausted, so I don't usually have trouble falling asleep, but I often go through stretches where I wake up in the middle of the night (this often involves eating cereal). I rarely sleep more than 7 hours in a row unless I get really sleep deprived.

I don't sleep.. Heck even when I wake up at like 6am, I still can't fall asleep the next night

you need to relax your brain. your brain needs rest just as much as your body does, but your brain won't let itself rest until it isn't being used much. Stop thinking in bed, and you should fall right asleep

I often have this issue. Currently I'm able to fall asleep, but wake up every morning around 5 and then ever hour after that.

I attribute a lot of my sleep issues to too much thinking. When I've got a lot on my mind...i.e. technique changes, big meets, big tests, finding a real job...it makes it hard to sleep at night with that running through my head.

I see that theczar has already made a similar post, so I'll stop here.

I saw a Discovery show (so it must be true) that said you should plan your sleep schedule in multiples of 90 minutes...like 6 hours of sleep or 7 1/2 hours of sleep. When you sleep you have a roughly 90 minute sleep cycle. Every 90 minutes, your brain activity peaks for around 15 minutes and you are on the verge of waking up. If you set your alarm to hit this sweet spot, you'll wake up refreshed and be ready to go. If it goes off while you're at the bottom of the sleep cycle (minimal brain activity), you'll be tired and sluggish no matter how much sleep you got. Of course, you have to be one of those freaks that can fall asleep quickly for the timing to work out.

When you sleep you have a roughly 90 minute sleep cycle

I learned about this in a psychology class a couple years ago, and it is very useful! I experimented with it a bunch of times and nearly every time I used a 90 minute interval (like 6 hours or 7 and a half) I woke up feeling very alert and refreshed.

Of course, you have to be one of those freaks that can fall asleep quickly for the timing to work out.

This is also true. Unfortunately this is about the only variable that I have experienced, but I believe most studies show it takes between 15 and 20 minutes initially for someone to fall asleep...it just may feel longer because as you are trying to fall asleep you lose your time-consciousness.
In any case, I would definitely recommend trying the sleep cycles method!

achtungpv wrote:I saw a Discovery show (so it must be true) that said you should plan your sleep schedule in multiples of 90 minutes...like 6 hours of sleep or 7 1/2 hours of sleep. When you sleep you have a roughly 90 minute sleep cycle. Every 90 minutes, your brain activity peaks for around 15 minutes and you are on the verge of waking up. If you set your alarm to hit this sweet spot, you'll wake up refreshed and be ready to go. If it goes off while you're at the bottom of the sleep cycle (minimal brain activity), you'll be tired and sluggish no matter how much sleep you got. Of course, you have to be one of those freaks that can fall asleep quickly for the timing to work out.

Damn. No wonder you're so smart . . .

i sleep all the time from 11pm-8am work out get home, eat, take a 3 hour nap, eat lunch and then stay up until 11 and do the same thing every day

For some reason I find that if I nap at any time of day, I'm extremely tired the rest of the day, and have trouble falling asleep. And I'm awake from 5AM to around 11!

theczar wrote:For some reason I find that if I nap at any time of day, I'm extremely tired the rest of the day, and have trouble falling asleep. And I'm awake from 5AM to around 11!

yeah i am tired for like an hour after i wake up