Athletes need quality sleep to perform their best.

Most athletes recognize that rest and recovery is critical for success. Training programs, and schedules will automatically have rest days build into them, and athletes often just know when they need to take a few easy days to recover. However, many of those same athletes, and even their coaches, fail to recognize that quality sleep is just as big a part of the recovery process as taking some easy training days.

In fact, numerous studies have shown that even a small amount of sleep deprivation can dramatically decrease athletic performance. The reasons for this are not entirely clear, however research points to the role of glucose metabolism and cortisol (a stress hormone) production as a major factor.

Results of studies on sleep deprivation found that sleep deprived athletes don’t metabolize glucose very efficiently, and have higher levels of cortisol, which has been linked to memory impairment, age-related insulin resistance, and impaired recovery. Another potential problem of poor sleep is lowered levels of the hormone leptin, which play a role in regulating hunger as well as storing body fat.

The right mattress plays a big part in ensuring that Athletes are achieving quality sleep. Studies have revealed that the only way to ensure you are getting quality sleep is by sleeping on a custom made mattress.

PrescriBed offers athletes this solution. Based in Melbourne the Prescribed team lead by three Osteopaths developed a process to assess and diagnose an individuals sleep profile – which is then used to design a custom made mattress matching their sleep profile and body type.