A recent study moved the start of a morning swim session from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. The result: the athletes slept about one hour longer on average.
Interestingly, the additional sleep did not automatically lead to an immediate improvement in sporting performance. Over the long term, however, sufficient sleep remains a central part of recovery and the ability to tolerate training load.
Think beyond the training session
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This raises an important question for clubs and performance centres: should training schedules be based only on available pool time, or should they take greater account of the athletes' biological needs?
For young and high-performance swimmers who also have school, university or work commitments, the answer can matter greatly over the long term.
Swimming has a structural sleep problem
Early pool sessions have a long tradition in swimming. Many clubs use the hours before school, university or work because pools are occupied later in the day by public swimming or other groups. For athletes, however, this often means getting up at a time when the body still needs sleep.
The problem becomes particularly clear when late evening training is combined with very early morning training. Between travelling home, eating, winding down and the next alarm, there may be only a small window for actual sleep.
One isolated early session is not the main problem. Repeating the pattern over weeks and months can become critical.
Not every session has to start as early as possible
The new study therefore provides an important prompt for training organisation. If a later start allows substantially more sleep, coaches should at least examine which sessions genuinely have to take place early.
It may be possible to schedule a demanding session later while keeping an easy technical session in the morning. School holidays, weekends and training camps also provide room to avoid continuously increasing sleep deficits.
For young swimmers, coordination with school and parents is particularly important. Performance development does not come only from adding more training hours. A training plan is good only if the athlete can tolerate it sustainably.
SCIENTIFIC SOURCE
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42518003/