Do you wake up feeling tired, sluggish, and grumpy? If yes, you may not be getting enough sleep, especially deep sleep.

If you're having trouble sleeping or waking up tired, learning about sleep science can help. Understanding the role of deep sleep, knowing your body’s natural sleep patterns, and improving your sleep habits can make a difference. Let’s look at why you might not be sleeping well and what steps you can take to get better rest.

Deep sleep: where the magic happens

We all go through a 90-minute sleep cycle that includes four stages. The first two stages are light sleep, so if you take a nap for 20 to 30 minutes, you'll mostly be in those stages. The fourth stage is called rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, where dreaming happens. This stage is important for our mental health because it helps with managing emotions and developing coping skills.

In the third stage of sleep, called deep sleep or slow wave sleep, which usually happens about an hour after you fall asleep, your body goes through important recovery processes. This stage is very important for your health and mostly occurs in the first half of the night.

This phase is important for recovery and healing. During this time, the body releases growth hormone, manages glucose levels effectively, and increases protein production. All of these processes are essential for building muscles and improving overall physical strength.

It’s also the time for memory building, where you learn and practice new things. This includes getting better at skills, like riding your bike.

According to a 2021 sleep consensus statement in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, “the duration and composition of normal sleep changes across the life cycle. At the ages relevant to aspiring and established athletes, a sleep of eight to 10 hours for an adolescent (aged 15 years) contains approximately 57% light sleep, 22% deep sleep and 21% REM sleep; and a sleep of seven to nine hours for a young adult (aged 30 years) contains around 61% light sleep, 16% deep sleep and 23% REM sleep”.

This small decrease in deep sleep as we get older is due to the major changes happening during the teenage years.

The impact of poor sleep

Sleep disturbance significantly impairs both the deep and REM sleep stages, which has repercussions for both cycling performance and general health.

In one study, researchers kept a group of athletes awake at three-hour intervals during the night and then let them go back to sleep. They found that this disrupted sleep negatively affected the athletes' physical abilities and coordination skills.

Some of the key consequences of sleep deprivation include:

1. Cognitive Impairment Lack of sleep affects attention, memory, and problem-solving skills. The National Sleep Foundation reports that people who sleep fewer than six hours per night for extended periods experience cognitive decline similar to aging 8–10 years faster.
2. Increased Risk of Chronic Diseases Chronic sleep deprivation is linked to a higher risk of heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure. A study published in The Lancet found that people who consistently sleep less than six hours per night are more likely to develop cardiovascular issues.
3. Weakened Immune System Sleep is crucial for immune function. Research from the University of California, San Francisco, found that people who sleep fewer than six hours per night are four times more likely to catch a cold compared to those who get at least seven hours.

Know your chronotype

How can you tell if you're not getting enough deep sleep? Besides feeling foggy and grumpy, which is obvious, deep sleep is really important in the 90-minute sleep cycle. If you sleep less than the recommended hours, you’re likely missing out on deep sleep.

To improve your overall well-being, it’s important to consider both your performance and sleep preferences. Everyone has a unique body clock, called a chronotype, which affects when they feel most awake and when they feel sleepy. Understanding your chronotype is crucial. By matching your daily activities with your natural sleep patterns, you can create a better and more restful sleep experience.

There are four primary chronotypes:

Early Risers (Lion) – Wake up early and feel most productive in the morning.

Typical Sleepers (Bear) – Follow the natural sunrise and sunset pattern, with energy peaking in the late morning.

Night Owls (Wolf) – Most alert in the evening, struggling with early mornings.

Light Sleepers (Dolphin) – Have irregular sleep patterns and wake up frequently at night.

In a perfect world, training according to your natural body clock would boost your physical results and improve your sleep quality afterward. However, this doesn't always happen in real life. For example, a morning person who has to work out in the evening might struggle with sleep. How can they increase their chances of getting a good night's sleep in this situation?

Dr. Michael Breus, a sleep expert and author of The Power of When, advises that you should adjust your daily routine according to your natural sleep patterns, called chronotypes. If you're a night owl, trying to go to bed early might not work well for you. Instead, it's better to align your schedule with your natural rhythm and slowly change your sleep habits for better rest and more productivity during the day.

Be sleep strategic

When you exercise, your body releases adrenaline, cortisol levels go up, your heart rate increases, and your core temperature rises. All of this makes it harder to sleep. However, you can be smart about how you exercise to improve your chances of getting a good night’s sleep. With a Coospo heart rate monitor, you can track your heart rate in real-time and adjust your workout intensity to avoid overstimulation before bed. Monitoring your heart rate helps you find the right balance—getting the benefits of exercise while still ensuring a restful night’s sleep.

Eat your main meal earlier in the day and have a snack after your workout. Eating too much can make it hard to sleep. Drink enough water to stay hydrated, but don't drink too much, or you'll be up all night going to the bathroom.

Take a shower, do some stretches, and relax a bit before going to bed. It’s okay to sleep less if the sleep you get is really good. The next day, just go back to your regular sleep routine.

Taking time to relax is important. Watching TV can be okay, but it's best to choose shows that are not too exciting. The same goes for using smartphones; while it's usually not a good idea to use them before bed, the main reason isn't just because of the blue light from the screens.

The blue light from our phones isn't bright enough to stop melatonin, the hormone that helps us sleep. The real issue is getting caught in the ‘scroll hole’ while browsing social media. This can be exciting and make it harder to sleep.

To improve your chances of getting better sleep, you can try a few simple tips: use eye masks to block out light, stop drinking caffeine after noon, choose a duvet that matches the season's temperature, and add more foods that contain tryptophan to your meals. Tryptophan helps make melatonin, which can aid sleep. It's found in foods like milk, almonds, many plants, and turkey.

You can try taking a nap in the afternoon, but it's best to keep it short—no more than 30 to 90 minutes. If you nap longer than that, you might wake up feeling groggy and it could affect your sleep later on. Also, if you know you will have less sleep coming up, like when traveling for a big event, you should try to catch up on sleep beforehand.

A study with college basketball players found that getting more sleep—about 10 hours in bed each night for five to seven weeks—helped improve their reaction time, sprinting speed, mood, and accuracy in free-throw shooting.

More research is needed to find out if the claimed benefits of getting more sleep can be achieved with just a little extra sleep each night and over a shorter, more realistic period.

So, remember to focus on what you do off the bike as much as on it, and you'll soon be sleeping well and getting ready for success. Sleep well, feel strong.