Episode 15: You Might Need to Sleep More....and Some Stats

Some follow up from last episode, some companies have 2 week demos, and IRC for good shoes!

Let’s start with a topic I mentioned in another episode yet to be released, it’s our injury prevention episode and I’m very excited to get that out so be waiting for that one. But it’s the importance of sleep for mental and physical recovery. And if you’ve played pb for any amount of time you know it’s both physical and mental. I can be physically on top of my game and feeling really good, but if my brain isn’t there, I’m terrible. 

Dr Matthew Walker, PhD says “sleep is the greatest legal performance enhancing drug that most people are probably neglecting”

First, having poor sleep is a stronger predictor for pain than having pain is for having poor sleep. 

Many times we aren’t sleeping due to anxiety and/or depression, which then can lead to chronic pain. It’s all a very downward spiral. 

Treating anxiety/depression (and full disclosure we’ve dealt with this with a kid and when we finally got her treated and she started sleeping well, she turned into a TOTALLY different kid) can help sleep which can help pain. If you watch episode 6 you can find out why pb can help with anxiety/depression, but sometimes you need stronger stuff so I encourage you to figure that out.

How to get better sleep?

• Consistent wake/bed time for healthy circadian rhythm

• Appropriate absorption of sunlight in morning (buy a happy light for those of us in cloudy  Fort Wayne!

• Wear blue light blockers to watch tv/look at your phone/computer before bedtime

• Caffeine has a half life, don’t drink it after noon

• Don’t work out before bed. I sometimes play pb late and it def screws with my bedtime!

Sleep is a necessary function of life both physically and mentally, both collagen laydown and neuronal regeneration

We need 8+ hours of sleep a night

Most Americans sleep less than 6 hours a night

Four main stages of sleep

Wake - waking at times is normal

Light - transition stage in/out of deeper sleep

Deep - physical restoration

REM - mental restoration

Deep sleep occurs earlier in the sleep cycle (body prioritizes physical restoration)

REM sleep occurs later in the the sleep cycle

Lacking deep sleep? If you feel groggy when waking, you need more deep sleep - go to bed earlier

Lacking REM sleep? Does your body not feel recovered? Sleep in later.

I’ll link all the research in the show notes, but sleep is definitely something that we don’t do enough of. Reminds me of a meme I saw “How do you know when you’re finally an adult? When sleeping is no longer a punishment but a reward” and that is so true. I really love sleeping.

Ok, next topic! Some pro vs amateur statistics!

Ben Johns at the PPA Hyundai Masters Gold medal matches

He played with Collin and with ALW

Johns/Johns: 26 drops, 27 drives C was 10/10 (100%) B was 43/44 (97.7%) 

58% successful speed ups

Ben - 1 ATP, 1 ERNE defended

Collin - 3 ERNES

Johns/Waters: 44 drops, 9 drives AL was 10/11 (91%) B was 43/44 (97.9%)

70% successful speed ups

Waters - 1 ERNE

Ben - 1 ERNE

Mine (I did not count anything my partner did bc I didn’t want to be the weirdo) 2.5 games on a Saturday morning rec play, we ran out of time the 3rd game.

3rd drop: I was 19/22 (86%), but I broke it down, 7 in kitchen, 12 my opponent vollyed it out of the air so seems like something I should work on.

One the 3rds I missed I put it in the net and my opponent picked it up and then threw it away bc it had a huge crack in it so that one has an asterisk by it, haha 

I had zero 3rd drives so I should work on that

I counted initiated speed ups as dinking at the line and speeding it up, not mid court, I only had 2, but I won them both. Apparently we keep it low or I’m not aggressive enough, IDK. I had 1 ATP attempt but it was defended.

My longest rally was 34 hits, it included a nice drop, some dinks, speed ups, resets, I had a beautiful lob if I do say so, a recovery and then my partner put it away.

Side note, I played 1.5 of those games with Matt Carpenter (who at this point is an honorary podcast member too) and he was 15/17 with his drops, no drives.

Recording yourself is really fun, I learned a couple things. I don’t do great when my 3rds are volleyed so I need to work on my mid court defense. Also when someone short drops me, I can run and get it which keeps it in play but my “hail mary” is too much at an angle and they hit it to an open court bc my partner has shifted. I need to work on dropping it middle, or ATPing it like Matt did. All stuff I knew but it was different watching it.

Matt, tell us your statistics and takeaways

Video yourself sometime and pick out some things to work on, it’s fun.

Abby: our oldest turns 14 next week, so I love her, we call her our little super bowl baby bc we got the phone call on Super Bowl Sunday. She a pretty fun kid, super athletic, loves her friends, has a good sense of humor. Mercari Lulu items for her bday