want to hit better, field better, play better?

then, according to research i've found online, one way to do that ( if you sleep nights and most of us do) is to avoid playing games early in the day.

i see that several of the 45+ playoff games are scheduled to start at 10 a.m., much as they did last week. unfortunately, as many as
50 percent or more of the guys who play in early games will not be fully awake, mentally and physically, when the first pitch is thrown.
and some may not be awake when the last one is either.

they'll be suffering from a common malady called "sleep inertia," a term scientists coined in the 1970s to refer to the groggy, drowsy sensation
most of us feel after we wake. it can last from 10 minutes to four hours. and nothing, including hot showers, coffee and doing wind sprints
before games, can fully erase sleep inertia's effects. the brain and body wake on their own time tables.

we feel sleep inertia because we haven't gotten enough sleep or because we haven't completed at least two deep sleep cycles (called REM,
or rapid eye movement, sleep) which is when we dream. the more we cut sleep time or interrupt deep sleep, the greater chances
we'll wake cranky, creaky and clumsy, and thus unable to throw or hit a good fastball.

there are studies linking sleep inertia and the ability to do simple math (50 percent more mistakes when groggy) and driving. drowsy driving is
estimated to cause about 20 percent of all car accidents or about 1.2 million accidents a year, according to the "valley sleep center"
website (and others online.)

i couldn't find any studies linking baseball to sleep inertia. still, baseball players know how important good sleep is to repairing sore muscles and
staying mentally alert. the inability to get regular sleep of 8 hours a night is often one of the reasons cited that it's unlikely that any major leaguer
will ever hit .400 again. the wall street journal reported recently that the arizona diamondbacks have recently shelled out somewhere between $9,000 and $13,000 for specially designed sleeping pods (made by MetroNaps in new york), so that their players can take naps before playing.
(but for naps to be effective, an hour's sleep is considered best.)

and i know the difference between when i'm feeling sleepy at the plate or the field, and i'm suddenly finding the game is going a lot, lot faster than
i am. part of that no doubt is geezerdom. but part is sleep inertia.

this is a particular beef of mine at tournament time. three times now, i've played games in msbl's world series in arizona, and at least half or more
of the games started at 9 or 10 a.m. that's crazy for any group, but especially so for the 55+ set, who take longer to turn over their engines.

so, let me ask, politely, if at all possible, that future playoff games be started at noon or later, so that guys will have a chance to wake up?

-mike

or, the option, as john corrigan noted recently, is to get up at 5:30 a.m. that way, four hours later, we'll be fully awake for a 10 a.m. game.




-- Edited by mikehart on Friday 12th of September 2014 06:26:48 PM