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Sleep and Your Child Athlete

By Alysa Dobson, Super Heathly Kids, 07/19/18, 12:00PM PDT

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Encourage your child to take an after school nap or rest prior to training. Offer healthy meals at the same time every day, keeping in mind that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

If your young athletes are serious about their sport, a sure way to increase performance is to encourage them to get serious about sleep. 

The document Sleep, Recovery and Human Performance, published by Canadian Sport for Life states that in order to increase athletic performance, post-exercise recovery and regeneration, sleep is just as important as your children’s specific athletic training.  Sleep is the very foundation of post-exercise recovery and regeneration.

There are three main factors to look at when evaluating your children's sleep:

  1. Sleep length – Are they getting the optimal number of hours per night?