REDGAR

While getting for work today there was a little snipet of on sleep that caugt my ear when they read the bullet that said something like get 6 hours or less a night affects your reaction time.

What do you guys think?
Are you a regular 8 hour a night sleeper and do you cut good reaction times?

Do you try to get a good nights rest before a race or maybe the week leading up to a race?

I know when I travel to a race I try to split the drive up into a couple of days so I don't fatigue but on local race pre-night, I am guilty of not getting enough sleep. I never really tried to figure if that affects me or how much.

98NYFINESTVETTE

I always thought I needed 9 to 10 hours of sleep to be ready for the tree. I won one event with only 2 or 3 hours sleep (Robbie had bad dreams, Katelyn screaming & wife yelling all night). I felt like I was hit by a truck. I was sluggish and punch drunk, when I went around the wall I woke hope and game on. Really weird. Then there are the nights I sleep 10 hours and I am ready for anything.

It seems that I am on the fence here. I have done well with very sleep and with 10 hours sleep. Years ago it did effect me if I did not get at least 8 hours sleep. I guess my body is changing.

YO-EL

9-10 hrs?
8 hrs?

You gotta be kidding me!

I can't remember the last time I had more than 6 hrs!

Bed @ 11:30-12:00 PM, alarm goes off at 5:45AM

WHO gets 8 hrs sleep & has kids & a job?

Vetter 1

Some get that much sleep on the tree.

Mike Campbell

I don't know about sleep or not. IMO too much sleep makes you just as slow at the light as too little helps you redlight... However, I have found that a toss with my sweet wifey always helps my performance the next day!!! One way or another..

kazman

I haven't seen a relationship between the amount of sleep and my RT's.

Once I go through the wall I'm very awake. I always try to hit the exact same spot on the tree and adjust the car if necessary. I wait to see the light come on then hit it. If I need to cut a better light I adjust the car to react faster. Some drink a few red bulls to acomplish the same thing. The amount of sleep time may have more of an effect on drivers who anticipate the tree or use the counting method than those who see and go.


I have had issues with late night return trips from the track after racing with 2-3 hours sleep. Last leg of the 2 hour trip home at 1am is brutal.

WEB AIR

Here's the facts from Stanford:

"In a test of reaction times, people who were tired because of disrupted sleep performed about as poorly as subjects who were legally drunk, the researchers report. The study is the first to show severe impairment in people who have only mild to moderate sleep disturbances."

While I personally cannot tell a difference obviously there is. I never sleep more than 6 hrs so am I sleep deprived or am I getting all the sleep I need? There are many more studies that will show we
all require different amounts of sleep. The key here is the word 'disturbances'. If you don't get your normal amount of sleep your reaction times suffer.

kazman

So your telling me I race like I'm legally drunk? May seem that was at times.

WEB AIR

Not me ol buddy. That's what Stanford says.

REDGAR

Bob you have a link? I thought when i heard the legally drunk think it was preceded with something like those who stay awake for 24 hours are equal to being legally drunk

WEB AIR

http://news.stanford.edu/news/1999/s...sleep-929.html

98NYFINESTVETTE

I do have interrupted sleep. Oh do I. I may be laying in bed for 9 to 10 hours. The actually sleep time is probably about 6 hours. Then there is the powder I give the kids the night before a race for them to sleep.

Lately I have been falling asleep around mid night. Waking up at 4 am to give baby a bottle. Sometimes two hours into my sons sleep he will start screaming. That will last for about an hour.

I guess the coffee will counteracts the lack of sleep for me.

Who knows. As Bob said. Everyone is different.

LS1LT1

Very interesting (and relevant) discussion.
I have a mild case of insomnia but much of it is my own fault as I spend far too much time on the internet (and watching TV) and am regularly up until 4-5am in the morning (and sleeping until noon (and sometimes later)) as a result of it LOL.
The obvious problem with a sleep schedule such as that is when it comes time to be up at 7am to make it to E-town by 8:30 so as to not get stuck waiting in line at the gate (and tech) is that there is no way to do it properly. I'd basically have to force myself to get up with only a few hours sleep and be potentially sluggish all day (coffee helps though). And I know this was affecting my focus/concentration at the tree as no matter what I tried I just wasn't getting the numbers down from my (at best) typical .9xx to .5xx lights.
When I'd try to go to bed earlier I would simply toss and turn (excitement about raceday, wondering if I'd forgotten anything for the car in preparation etc.) until my normal 4am bed time anyway and still be running on only 2-3 hours sleep.

For the last race I made a seriously conscious effort to not drink coffee or eat any sweets the Friday evening before and to get to bed by 11pm (which ended up being around midnight/not falling asleep until 1am LOL) and I finally had a very comfortable full night's sleep.
My lights improved dramatically that day.
Coincidence? I don't know, but I'll be following that path once again throughout this coming season.

DRIVER456

Got a good laugh out of that

jpee

Shezzz... ya think you and she would mind if she helped me with my reaction times too.. ?? J/K repeat j/k

Sorry but you left yourself wide open to sick minds....

I'll apologize once again......

REDGAR

Marc on nights when I fly the next morning, I try to go to bed 9ish and it is hard to sleep. Too early and work and flight stress. This week I was talking with the kids and Tylenol PM came up. I tried two and bam I was out within minutes of hitting the pillow.

Harry7239

Interesting topic. To be honest, I haven't found a real correlation between how am I on the tree and my sleeping habits. For about a year, I was working overnights and had a lot of trouble falling asleep early enough to get a "full night of sleep" for races. I only got 4-5 hours of sleep before the majority of my races in 2008 and I won Street Wars in March on literally 45 minutes of sleep. Thankfully this year I was able to get a more normal job around school and haven't had to worry about that.

Rob, I know exactly what you're talking about when you say your mind auto-focuses once you come around the wall. When I started bracket racing, I was just distracted all the time, and then about 2 years ago I suddenly started being able to focus much better. It seems to work the same when you're feeling sick. Last March I was dealing with some health issues and ran the first Street Wars when I probably should have stayed home. I kept away from everybody cause I didn't wanna make anyone sick. I was literally throwing up between rounds and feeling 100% once I came out from under the tower. I lost 4th round... .004 to Chuck Render's .014, his car ran the #.

Somewhere in this mess, my point is that we're all working off of our runs from that day, so if your body's natural timing is a little slower than usual, I think you subconsciously make minor changes to how you leave on the tree.

LS1LT1

Yeah I'd imagine that factoring in airport/flight delay issues and possible time zone changes only makes matters worse.
I've tried some sleep aids in the past (Unisom, even an Ambien once) and they work well in putting me right to sleep but always left me in a groggy, almost hangover type state the next day which could of course only hurt concentration on the track as much as lack of sleep can.
Tylenol PM might be a better option though because I think it has more mild ingredients, I might look into it for those Friday nights where I just have to be asleep by a certain hour.

Glensgages

when I was racing twice a week, I eliminated caffeine all-together, and snacks/sweets after 6PM on any night before a race-day:
you wouldn't mix varying ratios of race-gas to pump-gas every week, so why do the same with your body?

I also had read where Gary Ormsby's crew-chief, Lee Beard, had access to former US Naval Aviator information, and it showed that a diet of pasta and/or chicken before a flight improved the way the brain, eyes, and limbs work in-conjunction with each-other, and Ormsby implemented this into his routine:
I ate a lotta chicken-parmesan in those days

I've had very-poor sleep patterns my entire life (you'll see me posting after midnight, and before dawn often), and I have learned to live with it:
my mind just can't unwind...

Beacuse I wanted to be able to function at my best regardless of my sleep, I would often use my practice tree whenever I couldn't sleep (any-wonder why my brain wouldn't slow down?), so I was just 'used' to being this way:
with some Forum-members I've spoken with off-line, I've suggested firing-up their practice tree when they first get outta bed, put on their shoes & socks, and cut a few lights before doing anything, including making coffee or draining the vein, as this may prepare you for-ANYTHING, at ANYTIME.

rattt g

who needs sleep, a few cans of red bull prior to the race, and i can go
0'20's or better all day in a race car