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One of the reasons why Gophers are 8-0? Sleep.

The_CornTorch

The_CornTorch

Scout Team
5 Year Member
www.mprnews.org

Football Gophers drill down on sleep, and win

Minnesota coaches adjusted practices to game times, put limits on technology use before bed and even adjusted building lights to mimic sunlight.
www.mprnews.org www.mprnews.org

This is kinda funny because this is where my Husker fandom directly intersects with my day job.

So one of the contributing factors that the Gophers are crediting to their success this season is improved sleep quality and scheduling. Getting more of it and at the right time.

Have to say – Frost's "crack of dawn" approach to practice schedule is a little old school based on what I know.

Practice scheduling, in a perfect world, should be based all around what you did on the days prior, and what you've working towards on days coming up.

If possible, you'd actually want a "dynamic" practice schedule. What time did the flight land last night. What time is the game this weekend, etc?
 

And no, before you put me on blast, I agree with you that this isn't the reason we're having such a lousy season.

Rather, this is one of those "finishing touches" you focus on when you've got the whole operation humming.

Everyone rowing in the same direction, if you will.
 



Males are at their peak testosterone levels between 6 am and 9 am. That's the reason for the early practices according to Frost. Fleck is 8-0 because he's had three years of recruiting and coaching to his system and they've feasted on cupcakes so far.
 
Mack The Shark said:
Males are at their peak testosterone levels between 6 am and 9 am. That's the reason for the early practices according to Frost. Fleck is 8-0 because he's had three years of recruiting and coaching to his system and they've feasted on cupcakes so far.
Click to expand...
Males may be at their peak testosterone in the morning, but how are their brains functioning? Sounds like that would be a good time for lifting (or sex), but not necessarily the best time for learning.

I agree with your final sentence, though. Fleck has done good things building Minnesota, and it's not just because of sleeping habits. But that doesn't mean the notion of adjusting practice schedules is meritless.
 
I made mention that Penn State used to do morning practices due to testosterone, but did away with it because they felt sleep/rest were more important.

I think there’s some great reasons to go in the morning. There’s pros and cons.
 




huskrthill said:
Males may be at their peak testosterone in the morning, but how are their brains functioning? Sounds like that would be a good time for lifting (or sex), but not necessarily the best time for learning.

I agree with your final sentence, though. Fleck has done good things building Minnesota, and it's not just because of sleeping habits. But that doesn't mean the notion of adjusting practice schedules is meritless.
Click to expand...

That's what the warmup is for. Once you get your blood flowing you wake up. It's not like they're playing chess or solving rubik's cubes. To be honest, I don't think any of this makes a damn bit of difference. People are grasping for stuff right now. Football coaches across the success spectrum have been practicing at differing times since the game began.
 
DuckTownHusker said:
Maybe we can get all the players to start having their periods at the same time, too.

But kidding aside, I get what you're saying and agree about smarter schedules.
Click to expand...
That would require an alpha producing "driver pheromones " to allow for that to happen. Given the lack of strong leadership on the team, it may not occur.
 
ShortSideOption said:
I made mention that Penn State used to do morning practices due to testosterone, but did away with it because they felt sleep/rest were more important.

I think there’s some great reasons to go in the morning. There’s pros and cons.
Click to expand...

Time of day can be whatever you want it to be. What the article is alluding to is ensuring you get enough hours of sleep in order to enable the body's need to recover.

So general rule of thumb here – the average individual needs about 7.5 hours of sleep per night (likely even more if you're undertaking significant cardiovascular strain – aka. game play or strength and conditioning.) So if you have to wake up at 5AM for practice, that means you need to be in bed and lights out by 9:30PM. I don't know what the Husker's sleep performance looks like, but that's pretty tough for the average college student with any kind of academic/social life.

Most NBA teams are flexing their shoot around and practice times to better accommodate sleep need. There's a couple interesting studies floating around that demonstrate a clear improvement in the Golden State Warriors game performance across all statistical categories and a correlation with increased sleep.

Hearing that the Gophers are telling their players to avoid screens before bed is just proof that they're working on "next level" stuff (circadian rhythm disruption) while we're struggling to get out of the gate. Sigh.
 



S&C in the mornin, when test is high....Practice in the afternoon, which from what I have read is when peak performance is most likely, and learning is most likely. And it seems NU needs learning....
 
The_CornTorch said:
Time of day can be whatever you want it to be. What the article is alluding to is ensuring you get enough hours of sleep in order to enable the body's need to recover.

So general rule of thumb here – the average individual needs about 7.5 hours of sleep per night (likely even more if you're undertaking significant cardiovascular strain – aka. game play or strength and conditioning.) So if you have to wake up at 5AM for practice, that means you need to be in bed and lights out by 9:30PM. I don't know what the Husker's sleep performance looks like, but that's pretty tough for the average college student with any kind of academic/social life.

Most NBA teams are flexing their shoot around and practice times to better accommodate sleep need. There's a couple interesting studies floating around that demonstrate a clear improvement in the Golden State Warriors game performance across all statistical categories and a correlation with increased sleep.

Hearing that the Gophers are telling their players to avoid screens before bed is just proof that they're working on "next level" stuff (circadian rhythm disruption) while we're struggling to get out of the gate. Sigh.
Click to expand...
Your second paragraph is another reason Frost likes morning practices, they can track players sleep, and with practice in the morning you usually have to go to be early and not go out and get in trouble the night before.

It's funny, with Riley we gave the kids special glasses to help their eyes be ready to go to sleep after screen time. Probably shouldn't have encouraged the habit and should have put a stop to it.
 

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