Recently one of my athletes asked “Does sleep really affect our recovery from training?”  Without question it does.  Good, uninterrupted sleep allows your body to recover from the stress of training as well as all the work your body has done throughout the day.  Getting 7-9 hours a night allows hormone levels to balance, muscles to relax, and it also allows your mind to clear itself.  When the topic of rest, recovery, and regeneration come up, too often we turn to hydration, nutrition, and stretching while forgetting that a short nap in the middle of the day may help take us to another level too.