We all understand the value of sleep, but recognising its importance doesn't always translate into getting enough of it. This piece isn't about solving severe sleep problems, and it isn't meant to make you feel guilty about not sleeping enough. Instead, it's about helping you improve your sleep in a realistic, holistic way that supports your health and performance.
Think of sleep as made up of three main components: quantity, quality and consistency. These are the three levers you can pull to improve it. Ideally you improve all three, but moving even one in the right direction helps. When you don't have time to sleep more, can you improve the quality and consistency of the sleep you do get? If you're travelling and bedtimes vary, the focus can shift to getting enough sleep, perhaps even through a well-timed nap.
To make progress, though, you need to measure these factors. Rather than guessing or reacting emotionally to a bad night, collect data and be objective. Then you can review, reflect and make changes. Over time, the data becomes both information and motivation. Seeing small improvements in your numbers builds momentum and makes long-term change more likely.
Quantity
Sleep is foundational, especially if your training load is high. Other recovery strategies are helpful, but none can replace sufficient sleep. In reality, work, training, family and travel all compete for your time. So when life is full, how do you prioritise sleep?
A few tactics to increase your total sleep time:
- Set up your environment for success: Keep your bedroom dark, cool and quiet.
- Use a bedtime alarm: Set it about an hour before you want to fall asleep, as a reminder to start winding down.
- Leave your phone outside the bedroom: This isn't mainly about screen exposure, but about avoiding the distractions and scrolling that keep you up later than you planned.
- Track your sleep: Objective data helps you see patterns and opportunities to improve. The COROS app shows your total sleep time in the Progress tab.
COROS Tip: COROS sets a personalised target sleep duration for you each night.
Quality
Reducing time awake during your sleep window is key to better sleep quality. While you're in bed, you want to be as efficient as possible. That means less time awake, and letting your body take the sleep it needs. COROS tracks how much time you spend awake during the night and shows it in the app.
COROS Tip: The COROS sleep score is based on six factors: total sleep time, the share of Light, Deep and REM sleep, total time awake, sleep interruptions, bedtime consistency and sleep stress.
All the tips for sleep quantity apply here too, especially minimising noise and disruptions. If you tend to wake up during the night, there are two strategies I have found effective with athletes:
- Be physically ready for rest: Being sufficiently tired (but not overtired) can support deeper sleep. If you train regularly, you probably already meet this condition.
- Try a brain dump before bed: Write all your thoughts down on paper right before you go to bed. This reduces cognitive load and makes it easier to fall back asleep if you wake up. Many athletes find that just seeing a lingering thought written down lets them relax and leave it until morning.
Consistency
More and more evidence points to the benefits of a consistent sleep schedule. Going to bed at a similar time each night and waking up at a similar time each morning can help with energy and fatigue, and may even reduce mortality risk in the long term. That said, consistency is hard to maintain when travel, training and other commitments vary. The key is to aim for regularity most of the time.
COROS Tip: The COROS sleep score algorithm gives extra weight to bedtimes within 30 minutes of your average, which gives you a one-hour optimal window.
Habits that can help you keep a more regular sleep rhythm:
- Set a bedtime alarm: We set an alarm to wake up, so why not one for going to bed? As mentioned above, it can be the cue to start winding down.
- Leave your phone outside the bedroom: It reduces the risk of late-night scrolling and keeps you on track for your usual bedtime.
- Anchor your day with regular meals: Eating at the same times each day supports your circadian rhythm.
- Get daylight in the morning: Even a cloudy morning is brighter than indoors, so if you don't train in the morning it's still worth getting outside for a few minutes.
- Zoom out when you review your data: Don't worry about one late night or early morning. Look at the weekly or monthly view instead. As long as most nights are consistent, you're doing well.
Pulling it all together
The image below is a useful reminder of the biggest contributors to sleep, both positive and negative. If you struggle with sleep, start at both ends and work your way in towards the middle.
Key takeaways
- Use the S.L.E.E.P. acronym to remember how to sleep better: Same time to bed and to wake, Light in the morning, Environment set up for success, Eat well, Physically active.
- You can pull three levers to improve your sleep: quantity, quality and consistency. Ideally all three, but even one helps.
- Zoom out. One short night is not the end of the world if you are consistent most of the time.
- Sleep is the foundation of your health and your recovery from training. Other strategies are useful, but they cannot replace good, consistent sleep.
