How sleep impacts athlete speed and agility

If you want to improve your speed and agility, what’s the first thing you think about?

  • Speed Drills?

  • Working with a coach or trainer?

  • Using resistance training?

  • Agility ladders drills?

None of those are wrong (though we’ll debate until we’re blue in the face about what agility ladder drills actually do), but athletes and parents are missing the forest through the trees.

Sleep quantity and quality significantly impacts speed and agility. And take that as gold from us– a training and rehab facility that makes our livelihood off of performance training and physical therapy.

Better sleep is a superpower… and it’s free 😉

Athletes work on resistance based speed training drill at Raymer Strength & Rehab

The Impact of Better Sleep on Athlete Speed and Agility

Sleep is tied to directly to how well an athlete can recover and be ready to compete. Research has been clear about that for a while now, and recent studies continue to back it up.

Sleep impacts reaction times

In a study published last week in Behavioral Sleep Medicine, teenage athletes were tracked for 8 weeks— logging their sleep and measuring their cognitive function every two weeks (1). On average, athletes in the study got less than 7 hours of sleep. When sleep quantity and quality increased, there were significant improvements in their reaction times (cognitive measurements). When the opposite happened with their sleep, they performed more errors.

Teenage athletes are recommended to have a minimum of 8 hours of sleep per night (2).

Lindsay Horan fights for the ball in a collision during a USWNT match.

Sleep impacts injury risk

Lack of sleep impacts the whole body’s system— metabolism, endocrine functions, cognitive processes and perceived level of effort during exercise (3). Because the body’s internal systems not operating at 100%, the brain not only can be slower to respond, but it can make mistakes. And the whole body has to exert more to meet its athletic demands.

It’s well known that cognitive response times are the foundation of better agility. Challenging the brain to quickly recognize stimulus is how athletes react quickly on the field. At the same time, when those responses are slower, not only are athletes at risk for underperforming, but they are at risk of making bad or slow decisions that lead them to injury. Improving agility is a part of our holistic program to lower concussion risk and lower risk of non-contact injury.

Sleep doesn’t just impact injury risk, but impacting the whole system (3) also increases the risk of illness and development of chronic disease! (4)


Ways to Improve Sleep Quantity and Quality

This might feel like common sense to some of you, but for those that are looking for good habits to improve sleep, we got you.

  1. Start wind-down habit
    Don’t touch your phone (or a screen) an hour before bed. Make your routine enjoyable— consider snuggling up in a cozy chair with a warm drink while you reflect on the day. Take a moment to do some self-care… whether that’s a hygiene routine, some light stretching, or slow mobility movements. If you can, dim your lights as you get ready for bed.

  2. Try to get to bed around the same time every night
    This is critical to establishing your body’s circadian rhythm. We are creatures of habit… and sleep is a part of that.

  3. Journal and track your sleep
    When you wake up, write down how you feel and how much sleep you got. You’ll notice over time which habits lead to better sleep. If you have the ability to wear a fitness wearable that tracks your sleep quality, even better!

  4. Limit caffeine to the mornings
    Try and limit how much caffeine or energy drinks you consume later in the day. While caffeine intake can improve sport performance, it doesn’t take much… and it’s a fraction of the caffeine in a cup of coffee. Don’t use that as a excuse 😉

  5. Limit the snooze button
    Hitting snooze to get a few more minutes over and over isn’t helping you because you don’t have enough time to dip down into core or REM sleep. It’s much better for your body to just set your alarm for the later time that you actually need to get up for. Be honest with yourself, and set your alarm accordingly.

The Speed and Agility Training Formula

Sleep is has the most impact on athlete performance, but sleep won’t increase the athlete’s capacity for faster times or better acceleration. It only allows the body to realize 100% of it’s current ability.

Improved Speed & Agility =
Better Sleep x (Speed Training + Agility Training + Strength Training + Energy System Training)

Comprehensive speed and agility training (and strength!) is the secret to improving the body’s capacity for more speed and better agility. That’s where our expert coaches come in. Between us, we have over two decades of coaching experience.

We improve sport performance and reduce chances of injury by studying the energy systems that different sport and sport positions use. And then we train our athletes accordingly to repeat those bouts of speed. And we help them grow their engines through applied strength training.

If you’re looking for remote training (or onsite training on the northeast side of Indianapolis) that’s individualized to your body’s data, age, sport, and position, we’ve got you.

Using the sled to help increase acceleration at Raymer Strength & Rehab

References

  1. Tate, T., Main, L. C., Roberts, S., & Bruce, L. (2025). The Impact of Sleep on Cognitive Function in Youth Athletes. Behavioral Sleep Medicine, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/15402002.2024.2444284

  2. Sargent, C., Lastella, M., Halson, S. L., & Roach, G. D. (2021). How Much Sleep Does an Elite Athlete Need?. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 16(12), 1746-1757. Retrieved Jan 31, 2025, from https://doi.org/10.1123/ijspp.2020-0896

  3. Charest, J., & Grandner, M. A. (2020). Sleep and Athletic Performance: Impacts on Physical Performance, Mental Performance, Injury Risk and Recovery, and Mental Health. Sleep medicine clinics, 15(1), 41–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsmc.2019.11.005

  4. Copenhaver, E. A., & Diamond, A. B. (2017). The Value of Sleep on Athletic Performance, Injury, and Recovery in the Young Athlete. Pediatric annals, 46(3), e106–e111. https://doi.org/10.3928/19382359-20170221-01

Coach J