Sweet dreams Football's latest high-performance drive? Chasing better sleep for players

When it comes to optimal performance, football clubs analyse diet, physiology and a plethora of minute details to ensure players have the best chance of peaking at the right time.

- Will Unwin

When it comes to optimal performance, football clubs analyse diet, physiology and a plethora of minute details to ensure players have the best chance of peaking at the right time. One area that may merit greater focus is sleep. Insomnia and other sleep issues are prevalent across British society. It is estimated that 30% of the population do not enjoy good quality rest but in elite athletes that figure rises to more than 50%.

Sleep deprivation seeps into every part of the body and mind. In football, it makes a player more susceptible to injury and can hinder performance. Addictions to sleeping tablets and the tobacco product snus are becoming more common in the game, and even though there is well-tested treatment, many players avoid it because they do not want to be associated with an addiction or mental health issue.

"Because of the prevalence of sleeping problems in football, there's a lot of unhealthy habits being developed," says Dr Eidn Mahmoudzadeh, co-founder of the Sleep Project, which is working with clubs and players. "Many are dependent on sleeping tablets to get them off to sleep. The issue with that is they are not good for you in the long term."