Sleep Quality

Sleep quality encompasses multiple factors beyond duration: time to fall asleep, sleep continuity, time spent in each sleep stage, and how refreshed you feel upon waking. High-quality sleep efficiently cycles through all stages with minimal disruption.

Factors affecting sleep quality include sleep environment, timing, pre-sleep behaviors, stress, health conditions, and substances like caffeine and alcohol. Poor sleep quality impairs recovery even with adequate duration.

Sleep quality may be more important than duration for recovery, cognitive function, and health. Optimizing quality can dramatically improve outcomes.

Improve sleep quality through consistent schedules, cool dark bedroom, limiting screens before bed, avoiding late caffeine/alcohol, and addressing sleep disorders.