How sleep affects recovery and performance for running, OCR, and endurance sports
Thomas Solomon, PhD.
Updated onReading time approx 3 minutes (500 words).
What you’ll learn:
Sleep is the non-negotiable repair job your body runs every night.
Getting more sleep usually helps recovery and performance; getting less sleep usually hurts both.
Curious about the how and why? Scroll down for the details, the nuances, and the nerdy bits.
The information I provide is not medical advice. Before making any changes to your habits of daily living based on any information I provide, always ensure it is safe for you to do so and consult your doctor if you are unsure.
What is sleep?
Sleep isn’t magic; it’s biology doing essential maintenance. It’s mandatory for health and a core tool in your recovery kit. If you want the full deep dive, I’ve written about it at veohtu.com/sleep and veohtu.com/nappingandchronotypes.
What is the scientific evidence on the effect of sleep on recovery and athletic performance?
Getting sufficient daily sleep is an essential and non-negotiable part of recovery. For an in-depth overview of the evidence, please read my articles on sleep and napping. The short version:
Cutting sleep reduces recovery from training, slows adaptation, and knocks performance.
Extending sleep tends to boosts several facets of recovery and performance.
You can “top up” nightly sleep with a daytime nap. Naps make many people feel refreshed, but — as after a full night of sleep — you might feel a short spell of grogginess (sleep inertiaSleep inertia is that groggy, heavy-headed feeling you can get right after waking—usually lasting minutes to an hour—while your brain and body fully “boot up.”) when you wake.
When you already sleep well at night, a 30 to 60 minute afternoon nap can reduce post-exercise fatigue and improve cognitive and physical performance, especially when testing happens at least 1 hour after waking from the nap (see Mesas et al. 2023).
Napping might also help after sleep loss (athletes included), but the current evidence base is small and of low to moderate quality (see Lastella et al. 2021, Souabni et al. 2021, Mesas et al. 2023 & Boukhris et al. 2023). It’s still unclear whether naps can fully restore performance after sleep deprivation.
Because the direct effects of napping on recovery are not fully nailed down, your best bet is to optimise sleep hygiene and protect your nightly sleep. See Sleep: a five-letter word to supercharge your recovery” for practical tips.
Can sleep enhance recovery and athletic performance?
Getting more sleep is likely to speed up recovery and help restore performance after training, whereas losing sleep is likely to hurt it.
The effect sizeA standardized measure of the magnitude of an effect of an intervention. Unlike p-values, effect sizes show how large the effect is and indicate how meaningful it might be. Common effect size measures include standardised mean difference (SMD), Cohen’s d, Hedges’ g, eta-squared, and correlation coefficients. looks small to medium.
When your nightly sleep is already solid, a 30 to 60 minute afternoon nap may further reduce fatigue and may improve performance, with moderate to large effects in some tests..
Whether naps can fully fix the damage from sleep deprivation remains uncertain. We need more high-quality randomized controlled trials.
Effects seem similar in trained athletes and untrained folks. Sex differences are unclear because most studies include more males than females.
Keep in mind: designs and effects between studies have moderate to high variability (heterogeneityHeterogeneity shows how much the results in different studies in a meta-analysis vary from each other. It is measured as the percentage of variation (the I2 value). A rule of thumb: if I2 is roughly 25%, that indicates low heterogeneity (good), 50% is moderate, and 75% indicates high heterogeneity (bad). High heterogeneity means there’s more variability in effects between studies and, therefore, a less precise overall effect estimate.), many studies have a moderate to high risk of biasRisk of bias in a meta-analysis refers to the potential for systematic errors in the studies included in the analysis. Such errors can lead to misleading/invalid results, and unreliable conclusions. This can arise because of issues with the way participants are selected (randomisation), how data is collected and analysed, and how the results are reported. (often due to a lack of blindingBlinding is when people in a study don’t know which treatment they’re getting. It stops expectations or beliefs (from patients or researchers) from skewing the results. “Single-blind” means participants don’t know; “double-blind” means participants and researchers don’t know; “triple-blind” means that the participants, researchers, and data analysts are kept in the dark. The goal is simple: fair tests and trustworthy findings.), and there is possible publication biasPublication bias in meta-analysis occurs when studies with significant results are more likely to be published than those with non-significant findings, leading to distorted conclusions. This bias can inflate effect sizes and misrepresent the true effectiveness of interventions, making it crucial to identify and correct for it in research.. So, the overall certainty of evidenceCertainty of evidence tells us how confident we are that the published results accurately reflect the true effect. It’s based on factors like study design, risk of bias, consistency, directness, precision, and publication bias. Low certainty means more doubt and less confidence, and that future studies could easily change the conclusions. High certainty means that the current evidence is so strong and consistent that future studies are unlikely to change conclusions. is moderateA moderate quality of evidence means that, in general, studies in this field have some limitations. This could be due to somewhat inconsistent effects between studies, a moderate range of effect sizes between studies, and/or a moderate risk of bias (caused by a small to medium number of studies, small to medium numbers of participants, poorly described randomization processes, some missing data, some inappropriate methods/statistics). When the quality of evidence is moderate, there is some doubt and only moderate confidence in the overall effect of an intervention, and future studies could change overall conclusions. The best way to improve the quality of evidence is for scientists to conduct large, well-controlled, high-quality randomized controlled trials. at best. Therefore, additional high-quality randomised controlled trialsThe “gold standard” approach for determining whether a treatment has a causal effect on an outcome of interest. In such a study, a sample of people representing the population of interest is randomised to receive the treatment or a no-treatment placebo (control), and the outcome of interest is measured before and after the exposure to treatment/control. are needed to increase the certainty (confidence) in the overall effect sizes reported in meta-analysesA meta-analysis quantifies the overall effect size of a treatment by compiling effect sizes from all known studies of that treatment..
The nice part: getting more sleep doesn't appear to hurt recovery or performance. So, if you like it and believe it works for you, get your zzz’s on.
How to use this: Aim for a consistent 7–9 hours of sleep per night. If nights are solid, trial a 30–60 minute nap 1–3× per week and schedule it so you’ve got at least 60 minutes before any hard sessions/races.
Information you can trust. All content on Veohtu is meticulously researched and written by Thomas Solomon, PhD. He does not sell supplements, recovery products, or ad space, and he has no sponsorships, brand affiliations, or ambassador roles. Everything you read reflects his independent views, shaped solely by peer-reviewed scientific evidence — and that will never change.
Full list of meta-analyses examining sleep for recovery
Here are the meta-analyses I've summarised above:
Effects of Acute Sleep Deprivation on Sporting Performance in Athletes: A Comprehensive Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Mingjun Gong, Min Sun, Yaqi Sun, Lijuan Jin, Shen Li. Nat Sci Sleep. 2024
The Impact of Sleep Interventions on Athletic Performance: A Systematic Review. Lúcio A. Cunha, Júlio A. Costa, Elisa A. Marques, João Brito, Michele Lastella, Pedro Figueiredo. Sports Medicine Open. 2023
Dawn of a New Dawn: Advances in Sleep Health to Optimize Performance. Alice D. LaGoy, Andrew G. Kubala, Sean Deering, Anne Germain, Rachel R. Markwald. . 2023
The Impact of Daytime Napping Following Normal Night-Time Sleep on Physical Performance: A Systematic Review, Meta-analysis and Meta-regression. Omar Boukhris, Khaled Trabelsi, Haresh Suppiah, Achraf Ammar, Cain C. T. Clark, Haitham Jahrami, Hamdi Chtourou, Matthew Driller. Sports Med. 2023
Is daytime napping an effective strategy to improve sport-related cognitive and physical performance and reduce fatigue? A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Arthur Eumann Mesas, Sergio Núñez de Arenas-Arroyo, Vicente Martinez-Vizcaino, Miriam Garrido-Miguel, Ruben Fernández-Rodríguez, Bruno Bizzozero-Peroni, Ana I Torres-Costoso. Br J Sports Med. 2023
A systematic review of effects of daytime napping strategies on sports performance in physically active individuals with and without partial-sleep deprivation. Priya Sirohi, Moazzam Hussain Khan, Saurabh Sharma, Shibili Nuhmani, Wafa Hashem Al Muslem, Turki Abualait. PeerJ. 2022
How much does sleep deprivation impair endurance performance? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Thiago Ribeiro Lopes, Hugo Maxwell Pereira, Lia Rita Azeredo Bittencourt, & Bruno Moreira Silva. Eur J Sports Sci. 2022
The Impact of Dietary Factors on the Sleep of Athletically Trained Populations: A Systematic Review. Jackson Barnard, Spencer Roberts, Michele Lastella, Brad Aisbett, and Dominique Condo. Nutrients. 2022
The influence of blue light on sleep, performance and wellbeing in young adults: A systematic review. Marcia Ines Silvani, Robert Werder, and Claudio Perret. Front Physiol. 2022
How Sleep Affects Recovery and Performance in Basketball: A Systematic Review. Javier Ochoa-Lácar, Meeta Singh, Stephen P. Bird, Jonathan Charest, Thomas Huyghe, and Julio Calleja-González. Brain Sci. 2022
Effects of Acute Sleep Loss on Physical Performance: A Systematic and Meta-Analytical Review. Jonathan Craven, Danielle McCartney, Ben Desbrow, Surendran Sabapathy, Phillip Bellinger, Llion Roberts, Christopher Irwin. Sports Med. 2022
Sleep interventions for performance, mood and sleep outcomes in athletes: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Kate Gwyther, Simon M Rice, Rosemary Purcell, Courtney C Walton. Psychology of Sport and Exercise. 2021
The effects of evening high-intensity exercise on sleep in healthy adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Emmanuel Frimpong, Melodee Mograss, Tehila Zvionow, Thien Thanh Dang-Vu. Sleep Med Rev. 2021
Effects of High-Intensity Interval Training on Sleep: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Leizi Min, Dizhi Wang, Yanwei You, Yingyao Fu, Xindong Ma. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021
To Nap or Not to Nap? A Systematic Review Evaluating Napping Behavior in Athletes and the Impact on Various Measures of Athletic Performance. Lastella M, Halson SL, Vitale JA, Memon AR, Vincent GE. Nat Sci Sleep. 2021
Benefits of Daytime Napping Opportunity on Physical and Cognitive Performances in Physically Active Participants: A Systematic Review. Souabni M, Hammouda O, Romdhani M, Trabelsi K, Ammar A, Driss T. Sports Med. 2021
Sleep disruption in medicine students and its relationship with impaired academic performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Hernan A Seoane, Leandra Moschetto, Francisco Orliacq, Josefina Orliac, Ezequiel Serrano, María Inés Cazenave, Daniel E Vigo, Santiago Perez-Lloret. Sleep Med Rev. 2020
Sleep Interventions Designed to Improve Athletic Performance and Recovery: A Systematic Review of Current Approaches. Bonnar D, Bartel K, Kakoschke N, Lang C. Sports Med. 2018
Inadequate sleep and muscle strength: Implications for resistance training. Olivia E Knowles, Eric J Drinkwater, Charles S Urwin, Séverine Lamon, Brad Aisbett. J Sci Med Sport. 2018
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Who is Thomas Solomon?
My knowledge has been honed following 20+ years of running, cycling, hiking, cross-country skiing, lifting, and climbing, 15+ years of academic research at world-leading universities and hospitals, and 10+ years advising and coaching in athletic performance and lifestyle change.
I have a BSc in Biochemistry, a PhD in Exercise Science, and over 90 peer-reviewed publications in medical journals.
I'm also an ACSM-certified Exercise Physiologist (ACSM-EP), an ACSM-certified Personal Trainer (ACSM-CPT), a VDOT-certified Distance Running Coach, and a UKVRN Registered Nutritionist (RNutr).
Since 2002, I’ve conducted biomedical research in exercise and nutrition and have taught and led university courses in exercise physiology, active recovery, biochemistry, and molecular medicine.
And, with my personal experience of competing on the track (800m to 10,000m), the road (5 k to marathon), on the trails, and in the mountains, by foot, bicycle, cross-country ski, and during obstacle course races (OCR), I deeply understand what it's like to train and compete — I've been there, done it, and gotten sweat, mud, and tears on my t-shirt.
Disclaimer: I occasionally mention brands and products, but it is important to know that I don't sell recovery products, supplements, or ad space, and I'm not affiliated with / sponsored by / an ambassador for / receiving advertisement royalties from any brands. I have conducted biomedical research for which I’ve received research money from publicly-funded national research councils and medical charities, and also from private companies, including Novo Nordisk Foundation, AstraZeneca, Amylin, the A.P. Møller Foundation, and the Augustinus Foundation. I’ve also consulted for Boost Treadmills and Gu Energy on R&D grant applications, and I provide research and scientific writing services for Examine.com. Some of my articles contain links to information provided by Examine.com but I do not receive any royalties or bonuses from those links. Importantly, none of the companies described above have had any control over the research design, data analysis, or publication outcomes of my work. I research and write my content using state-of-the-art, consensus, peer reviewed, and published scientific evidence combined with my empirical evidence observed in practice and feedback from athletes. My advice is, and always will be, based on my own views and opinions shaped by the scientific evidence available. The information I provide is not medical advice. Before making any changes to your habits of daily living based on any information I provide, always ensure it is safe for you to do so and consult your doctor if you are unsure.