Your sleep schedule may determine your athletic performance. Feeling sleepy on race day might not be the best thing for performance, but a new study out this week has found that when you normally get up may play a critical role in game time success. “Researchers analyzed the lifestyles of field hockey and squash players using detailed surveys and diary entries. Based on the athletes’ natural circadian rhythms, or internal clocks, the researchers classified those who naturally rise and sleep early as ‘larks,’ those who do the opposite as ‘owls,’ and the rest as intermediates. The scientists then conducted a cardiovascular fitness test six times a day on the players. As expected, the larks performed best around noon, the intermediates in late afternoon and the owls in the evening. More intriguingly, when the scientists tracked the players’ performances according to their internal biological time instead of real clock time, they found that the larks and the intermediates shared the same pattern: Both peaked about six hours after they woke up. The owls, on the other hand, hit their sweet spot 11 hours after their day started.” The researchers think the effect may have to do with when cortisol is produced, which depends on sleep patterns. They also say that peak performance time can be adjusted by switching yourself to a sleep schedule more consistent with when your race or game would be starting.

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