One thing that I’ve learned throughout my years of racing is that NOT ONLY you have to be good while driving and with your mechanics, getting your feedback for the setups, and having all of those things covered.
But what I found out is that it’s also really important to be great at 360 degrees.
So, you want to make sure that your diet is good, your fitness is good, but also your SLEEP is good.
And I have found out some strategies to help sleep better for myself and I wanted to share them with you because I feel that they can help you a lot, especially if you’re currently struggling with your sleep.
Here’s the top 5 sleep tips to help you sleep better during a race weekend:
- Go to bed early (9:30 PM)
- Turn off your phone an hour before bed
- Take a hot shower before bed
- Don’t watch Television in bed
- Read a book
Now, sleeping properly during a race event, during the race weekend is really, really crucial. Because if you can sleep properly, you can rest and you’re going to be so much fresher the next day.
Whereas if you are having nightmares or just having difficulties to fall asleep, then you will suffer from it massively.
So, here’s some tips that I wanted to share with you so that you can massively improve your sleep quality tonight.
Go to bed early (9:30 PM)
So, the first tip I have for you is to go early to bed and that is really important. Now, I don’t mean that you need to go to bed at 7pm. But aiming for a 9:30pm sleep time is really important. Because if you go to bed at 9:30 and let’s say you wake up at 7am, then you will give yourself more than enough and you will for sure be very fresh in the morning.
So ideally you should get eight, nine hours of sleep. But even if you have a little more, it’s not a problem. Now I’m suggesting you to go to bed towards 9:30. Okay, but that doesn’t mean you will be able to fall asleep at 9:30. It means that probably you will be falling asleep by 10pm or 10:30.
But if you go to bed at that time, it’s going to be good, because you will fall asleep around 10, 10:30 so that’s going to be enough for you. So that’s the first step.
Turn off your phone an hour before bed
Tip number two is to switch off your phone early. So at least one hour before going to bed. And that’s super important because mobile phones are really terrible for your sleep because they emit that blue light.
And blue light emitted from the screen is really bad and will suffer your melatonin. M
elatonin is what helps you fall asleep. And if you look at your phone, if you play games, you text, if you watch Netflix on your laptop, it’s going to be terrible for your sleep patterns and your sleep quality.
So, I highly encourage you to stop watching your phone at least an hour before going to bed.
Take a hot shower before bed
Tip number three is to take a hot shower, I feel this is super helpful, because it helps you to relieve the stress and relax massively. It’s good to have it half an hour before going to bed or even an hour before going to bed.
What I like to do is usually take a shower after dinner so that it gives me a great feeling going into bed, feeling of cleanliness but also relaxation. So, I encourage you to try this as well.
Don’t watch Television in bed
The fourth tip isto not watch television. And television is as bad as phones, if not worse, since they emit so much blue light and that blue light is going to affect your melatonin.
Again, that will make you very energetic and will make it difficult for you to fall asleep. So please stay away from television at home.
If you’re serious about winning, if you’re serious about racing and being a professional driver, you have to do this. So of course, there’s people who are able to watch TV and still go to sleep, for them, It’s fine.
But if you are struggling, then you have to really stay away from television.
Read a book
Now the fifth and final tip is to perhaps read a book. You can read books about anything.
I like to read the books about sports. Books about sports athlete like Cristiano Ronaldo, Sebastian Vettel, Schumacher or ayrton Senna.
There are so many books, you can read, especially about racing drivers. There’s one good book about Mark Webber. And books allow you to kind of make your head a bit more tired.
So that you are going to fall asleep so much sooner than if you wouldn’t. So, I have been doing this for so many years and it helps me a lot.
So, hey, guys, these were my top five tips for having a better sleep at the racetrack. I hope they were helpful and will help you to fall asleep sooner.
And if you’re struggling with your sleep, I encourage you to try them, give them a try and see how it goes.
But you should really stick with them for at least a few days, few nights. Just give it a try.
And make sure you stay away from television, electronics, including mobile phones and laptops at least an hour before going to sleep.
Having said that, I hope that was useful and see you soon 😉