By Jamie L.
US researchers from Stanford University evaluated the sleep patterns of the university's male basketball team and studied how sleep affected the athletes' performance. The team was asked to sleep for 10 hours a night for about six weeks, and as a result, their shooting accuracy improved by 9% and they ran faster 282-foot sprints by .7 seconds. The study was published in the journal Sleep.
"Sleep is an important factor in peak athletic performance," said lead researcher Cheri Mah in a statement.
"Athletes may be able to optimize training and competition outcomes by identifying strategies to maximize the benefits of sleep." She adds that it's important for serious athletes and trainers to prioritize sleep over a long period of time, not just the night before the big game.
Furthermore, Mah has also led prior studies on athletes and sleep, including one released in 2009 that found that when the Stanford women's tennis team snoozed for 10 hours a night, they improved their serve and overall hitting accuracy.
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