No I am not talking about hypnosis, but something simpler, something everyone can do - Sleep!
Research into the sleeping habits of athletes have found that they tend to sleep less than the 7-9 hours recommended per night. Maintaining good sleep habits can be difficult for athletes due to the stress, training, and travel of competition.
However, with a number of recent studies providing strong evidence of the link between sleep and performance, athletes and are realising if they do not take care of something as fundamental as their sleeping habits, then they are harming their chance of performing to their full potential.
Accuracy is an integral part of success in many sports. For example, the ability to hit a double 20 (darts), or hit a passing shot down the line (tennis), or kicking a field goal (rugby) all require accuracy. The difference between winning and losing in sport can be minuscule, and even a slight drop in accuracy may be the difference between failure and success.
Edwards and Waterhouse (2009) completed a study investigating the effect of restricted sleep on the accuracy and consistency of dart throwing. The researchers looked at the difference in the dart throwing performance of sixty participants after a normal nights sleep (7-8 hours), compared to after a night of restricted sleep (3-4 hours sleep).
The participants were asked to throw 20 darts at a target, where they received a higher score for a dart that landed closer to the centre of the target. A score of 10 points was given for hitting the centre, reducing to 1 point for the outer ring (see image), and a score of 0 for missing the board completely.
The results showed that after a night of restricted sleep, the participants returned an average score of 3.61 compared to 4.16 after a normal nights rest (a 14% drop in performance). They were also 1.3 times more likely to miss the target completely, and were more inconsistent with their throwing.
Asking basketball players to increase their sleep extension improved free-throw and 3 point shooting accuracy. Mah, Mah, Kezirian, & Dement (2011) established the baseline sleep patterns of a Stanford University Basketball Team over a 2-4 week period. This was followed by a 5-7 week period where the participants were instructed to sleep as much as possible at night, with the aim of achieving at least 10 hours per night. Sleep increased from 7.8 (baseline) to 10.4 (sleep extension) hours per night. With the increase in sleep, free-throw success during a practice task increased by 9%, and 3 point shooting by 9.2%.
Together, these studies provide support for the influence sleep can have on performance accuracy. Sleep deprivation appears to decrease accuracy, while sleep extension increases it. These findings are especially important for athletes in sports where success is heavily influenced by accuracy, e.g. sports such as darts, tennis, golf, bowling, basketball, badminton, etc.
References:
Edwards, B.J., & Waterhouse, J. (2009). Effects of One Night of Partial Sleep Deprivation upon Diurnal Rhythms of Accuracy and Consistency in Throwing Darts. Chronobiology International 26(4), 756-68.
Mah, C. D., Mah, K. E., Kezirian, E. J., & Dement, W. C. (2011). The effects of sleep extension on the athletic performance of collegiate basketball players. Sleep 34(7), 943-950.
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