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For women athletes, the real work of performance doesn’t just happen in training. It happens while you sleep.
Those overnight hours are when your body recovers, rebuilds, and stores the energy you’ll need for tomorrow’s game. But as Allison Brager, Ph.D., neuroscientist and VIS Expert, explains, underfueling can keep you from reaching the deep, restorative sleep that makes all the difference.
“What happens is you can’t really enter the restorative stages of sleep,” Brager explains. These deep stages are where growth hormones are released, testosterone levels rise, and your brain processes the mental side of sport, like reading the game, remembering plays, and reacting under pressure. When you’re underfueled, your body is in a state of stress, which short-circuits this critical phase.
Circadian Rhythm’s Role
Your circadian rhythm is your body’s internal clock, regulating when you feel alert and when you feel ready for bed. Ideally, it aligns your schedule with the deepest, most restorative sleep possible. But underfueling can weaken that rhythm.
“Think of the circadian rhythm like a wave,” Brager says. “It can affect the height of the wave.” Skipping key nutrients or eating the wrong foods at the wrong time—like a lot of sugar before bed—can flatten the waves and make it harder to fall into restorative sleep.
This doesn’t mean sugar is “bad.” In fact, quick carbs like sugar before or during training can be essential. At night, though, blood sugar spikes can delay your entry into deep sleep, leaving your recovery incomplete.
The Hormonal Link
Poor sleep and low energy availability hit the same hormonal system hard. Brager points to three hormones that really take the hit: testosterone, growth hormone, and estrogen.
Testosterone: Yes, women have it too, and women athletes typically produce more than the average woman. It’s crucial for muscle repair and recovery.
Growth Hormone: Released during restorative sleep, it supports tissue repair, muscle growth, and energy replenishment.
Estrogen: Key for reproductive health but also important for muscle recovery and bone health.
Protecting Your Sleep
Even with a packed training and travel schedules, athletes can take small, intentional steps to defend their sleep. That means recognizing that recovery doesn’t just “happen." It’s something we can actively protect.
Setting a pre-sleep routine, like eating a balanced dinner two hours before bed, winding down without screens, and creating a calm environment, can make a huge difference. As Dr. Brager explains, the consistency of your habits signals to your body that it’s safe to enter deep, restorative sleep.
To make sleep more manageable for athletes with unpredictable schedules, Dr. Brager recommends using the military-developed acronym SLANT. It’s a simple framework that focuses on the five environmental factors proven to support better sleep.
S - Surface: Choose a comfortable surface to sleep on like a mattress and bedding.
L - Light: Keep the environment as dark as possible.
A - Air Quality: Keep fresh, cool air circulating.
N - Noise: Reduce or mask disruptive sounds.
T - Temperature: Keep it cool for optimal sleep.
If you are coming home late from a game or practice, protecting these factors can help you enter deep sleep faster—even if the timing isn’t ideal.
“It's really the quality that matters. It’s better to get five hours of truly restorative sleep than nine hours of tossing and turning.”
Breaking the “More is Better” Myth
It’s easy for athletes to believe that success comes from logging more hours—more drills, more conditioning, more late nights studying film. But high performance isn’t just about how much work you put in. It's also about how well your body can adapt and recover from that work. Without enough sleep and proper fueling, extra training often adds stress without building strength.
Many athletes push harder, thinking more training hours will lead to better performance. But when it comes to sleep, Brager warns that this mindset—especially when combined with underfueling—often backfires. The body can’t fully repair or store energy if it’s constantly being pushed past its limits without the resources it needs. Instead of getting fitter or faster, you risk burning out, getting sick, or even increasing your risk of injury.
“It’s really the quality that matters,” she says. “It’s better to get five hours of truly restorative sleep than nine hours of tossing and turning.” When athletes chronically underfuel and overtrain, they disrupt their natural recovery cycle. The result isn’t just restless nights—it’s heightened cravings for quick, low-quality foods and a body stuck in stress mode. That cycle makes it harder to perform at your best the next day, no matter how much time is spent on the field.
The truth is, the real gains from training happen when you sleep. That’s when your body releases growth hormone, rebuilds muscle fibers, and consolidates skills you learned in practice. Brager emphasizes that recovery is an active part of training, not an afterthought. Proper fueling and quality sleep allow the body to repair, rebuild, and grow. Recovery is what transforms hard work into real performance gains.
The VIS Takeaway
Performance isn’t just about what you put in during practice, it’s also about how you allow your body to recover. Sleep and fueling work together as the foundation for strength, focus, and resilience. Without them, the hours of training and preparation lose their full impact. By treating recovery with the same intention as training, we can sustain both our performance and our well-being over the long term.
Your sleep is not just “rest.” It’s an extension of your training. Fueling your body property throughout the day supports your circadian rhythm, hormonal balance, and ability to enter deep, restorative sleep. For women athletes, protecting that recovery window is just as important as nailing our pre-game warm-up.
Fueling your body isn’t just about energy for the day. It’s an investment in better sleep, faster recovery, and your next big performance.
