1. Make sleep a part of your scheduled training regimen.

Scheduling sleep into your daily routine is a great way to ensure you get enough rest at the right times. During regular training, strive for a minimum of seven hours of sleep. Leading up to larger meets and championship season, try to increase this amount for an extra performance boost.

2. Maintain a regular sleep schedule. Go to bed and wake up at the same times every day.

Going to bed and waking up at the same time each day helps reduce the amount of time that it takes to fall asleep and being on a sleep schedule has been correlated with deeper levels of sleep. To make the most out of your z’s, try to go to bed and wake up on a schedule.

3. Get more sleep several weeks prior to competition to reduce your sleep debt.

Sleep debt is fatigue accrued from lack of sleep and depletion of energy stores. Competition is a fatiguing and taxing activity for your body; the more rested you go into the meet, the more likely your energy levels are to remain optimal.

4. Obtain a sufficient amount of nightly sleep. Seven to eight hours is ideal for adults while nine or more hours leads to optimal performance in teens.

Athletes have a busy lifestyle and it’s often difficult to fit in sleep. For optimal performance, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine found these amounts correlated to the best demonstrations of strength, stamina, and speed.

5. Take short naps during the day.

Naps are a good way to rejuvenate your body and take advantage of free moments during the day. To wake up refreshed, try to make nap time to 15-30 minutes. Shorter periods of time often signal fatigue, while longer periods can interrupt sleep cycles at night.