I’m a Performance Coach. Here’s Why I Tell My Athletes to “Sleep Bank” Before Competitions
“I know I won’t be able to sleep tonight.”
That’s what almost every athlete I work with tells me before a major competition. One Team GB hockey player once slept just 30 minutes before the Paris Olympics. It’s genuinely a dark place to be, the night before something that really matters to you. Your mind ruminates, and even when you convince yourself not to think, you can’t stop; you toss and turn, heart pounding, and then suddenly your alarm goes off. Moments like that pushed me to look deeper for real solutions for my clients, not with sleep medications, but with preparation.
And it isn’t just athletes. We’ve all had these sleepless nights, whether it stems from an upcoming interview, an important meeting, or a first date.
But here’s the truth that most people don’t realise, you don’t need perfect sleep the night before a big day if you’ve prepared for it properly. That preparation is called sleep banking, or sleep extension, and it’s one of the simplest, most overlooked performance tools for athletes and high performers.
What Sleep Banking Actually Means
Sleep banking is exactly what it sounds like: building a reserve of rest before you know you’ll lose some.
Think of it like topping up a fuel tank before a long drive. You extend sleep by an extra 60 to 90 minutes for several nights before a big event, and the performance drop after one bad night becomes far smaller.
The concept first appeared in military and shift-worker research. Today, it’s quietly used across elite sport and other high-pressure environments, and some research shows it can reduce sleep propensity, improve performance, increase reaction time, and enhance mood. In simple terms, more sleep in advance softens the blow later.
Why It Works
Sleep is the body’s deepest recovery state.
During quality sleep:
- Growth hormone rises
- Cortisol drops
- The brain clears metabolic waste
- Muscles restore glycogen for energy and endurance
But the key detail most people miss is that sleep is cumulative—small gains stack up and small losses compound. By extending sleep before a big event, you can reduce baseline fatigue so one bad night doesn’t derail performance, lower stress hormones and pre-event anxiety, improve available energy for endurance, focus, and reaction speed, protect decision-making, which drops sharply with partial sleep loss. You’re not chasing perfect sleep, you’re building a biological buffer.
Related: Longevity Specialist Shares the 3 Things He Does for Better Sleep
How Elite Performers Use Sleep Banking
At the highest level, sleep is planned as carefully as training. A typical pre-competition rhythm looks like this:
3 to 6 Days Out
- Bedtime shifts earlier
- Caffeine cut-off moves to early afternoon
- Night sleep extends toward 8.5 to 9 hours, sometimes with a short nap
48 Hours Out
- Training load tapers
- Recovery, mobility, and nervous-system down-regulation increase
The Night Before
- Focus shifts from must sleep to calm rest
- Breathing, journaling, and low light replace screens
Post-Event
- A 20 to 30-minute nap helps reset the nervous system and speed recovery
The key takeaway: Performance is rarely decided by one night of sleep, but by the days and even weeks leading up to it.
Related: Feeling Sore? Here’s How to Know Whether You Need a Rest Day or Active Recovery
How to Bank Sleep (Even If You’re Not an Athlete)
You don’t need a professional team to use this.
- Spot Disruption Early (Travel, Competitions, Launches, Presentations)
Start banking sleep 3 to 6 nights before - Extend Total Sleep Time
Aim for an extra hour per night or a short early-afternoon nap. Even 30 extra minutes makes a measurable difference. - Upgrade Your Sleep Environment
Quality matters as much as quantity: Cool, dark room No phone light Familiar cues when travelling (eye mask, pillow, white noise) - Control the Major Disruptors
Cut off caffeine by the early afternoon Avoid alcohol and excess sugar pre-event Get morning daylight soon after waking to stabilise your circadian rhythm - Shift From Sleep to Rest
If sleep doesn’t come, calm rest still restores the nervous system. Breathing drills, guided relaxation, or non-sleep deep rest can all help. Letting go of the idea that you must sleep is often what finally allows sleep to return.
What Happens If You Ignore Sleep Banking
Turning up under-recovered shrinks your margin for error. Even one night of severe sleep restriction can slow reaction time, reduce decision accuracy, lower endurance capacity, and increase late-stage fatigue. At elite levels, those margins separate winning from fading.
The Real Mindset Shift
Sleep isn’t passive; it’s preparation. You wouldn’t attempt a major performance without warming up your body, so why would you skimp out on sleep when you can when you don’t have to?
Sleep banking is the warm-up for your brain and nervous system. So, although nerves or excitement might get the best of you the night before the big day, adding sleep banking can help you mitigate some of the issues to come.
Before your next big moment:
- Bank four nights of 8+ hours
- Cut screens an hour before bed
- Wake with light, not noise
- Nap strategically
- Drop the pressure to sleep perfectly