How to sleep through the night before an important volleyball match

To sleep well the night before a big match you need three things: a dark, quiet, cool room, a routine identical to every other night and no caffeine in the afternoon. The rest — mattress, pillow, dinner — counts, but less than you think. And there is an uncomfortable truth worth stating right away: what saves you is not the night before, it is the nights of the week before.

Why the night before a match is the hardest

The closer the match gets, the higher your arousal goes. That is normal: your body is getting ready to compete. The problem is that the same arousal you need on court keeps you awake the night before.

The pattern is almost always the same. You go to bed earlier than usual “to rest properly”, you are not sleepy, you fidget, you start watching the clock, and every hour that passes adds anxiety. The result is that you sleep worse precisely because you decided to sleep better.

The most effective countermeasure is the least intuitive one: change nothing. Same time, same sequence, same room. The body falls asleep out of habit, not willpower.

How much you should sleep

General sleep guidelines for an adult say 7 to 9 hours a night. For a teenager who plays and is still growing, the need is usually higher. There is no number that works for everyone: the practical check is whether you wake up without an alarm and get to mid-afternoon without crashing.

Watch out for a common mistake: sleeping barely anything all week and then trying to make up for it with ten hours the night before the match does not work. Sleep debt is not paid off in one go.

Set up the room: light, sound, temperature

1. Light

The sleep-wake rhythm is largely regulated by light. The darker it is, the more the body understands it is time to shut down.

• Turn off every light, including reading lamps.
• Cover the LEDs on the TV, power strips, chargers and router: those little blue and green dots are more annoying than they look. A piece of tape is enough.
• If the blinds let street light through, a sleep mask fixes it in a second and costs almost nothing.
• In the hour before bed, cut down on screens. If you really have to use your phone, turn the brightness all the way down.

2. Sound

Total silence is ideal, but often not realistic. The real goal is getting rid of irregular noises, the ones that wake you up without you noticing.

• No TV on while you fall asleep: the sound keeps you in light sleep and the screen adds light.
• Phone on silent and face down, or better still out of the room. The team group chat can wait.
• If you are a light sleeper and you are away with a roommate who snores, earplugs work. Set an alarm that vibrates, though, or ask someone to wake you: with earplugs in you might not hear it.

3. Temperature

A hot room is the fastest way to spend the night turning over in bed. If you have to get it wrong, get it wrong on the cold side: you can always add a blanket, but there is no escaping sweat.

In summer, when it is hot, air the room out before going to bed and use light sheets. If you use air conditioning, do not let it blow straight onto the bed: a shoulder that stays cold all night will let you know during the warm-up.

The mattress counts, but it is not an excuse

A good mattress helps, and the choice depends on your weight, the position you sleep in and any back issues. Lighter people usually do fine with a softer mattress, heavier people need more support.

That said: if you cannot change the mattress the week before the season, a topper costs a fraction and improves support quite a bit. And when you play away you do not get to choose the mattress anyway, so the other variables are the ones to work on.

What to do in the hours before bed

• Caffeine: no coffee, energy drinks or pre-workout in the afternoon or the evening. The effect lasts much longer than you feel it.
• Dinner: normal, not huge and not too late. The night before a match is not the time to try new foods.
• Alcohol: it makes you fall asleep faster and sleep worse. It breaks up the second half of the night, which is the part you need.
• Hot shower: it helps a lot of people relax, and it is an easy routine cue to repeat.
• Your head: if you keep replaying plays and game situations, write down on a piece of paper the three things you want to do on court. Getting them out of your head cuts down the rumination.

And if you really cannot sleep?

First: do not make a drama out of it. One bad night does not wipe out your match, whereas convincing yourself that you are done for might.

Second: if you have been awake a long time and you are getting worked up, get up, go to another room with low light and do something boring until sleep comes back. Lying in bed getting angry teaches your brain that bed is where you get stressed.

Third: the next day, if you can, a short nap in the early afternoon (20 to 30 minutes, no more) gets some of it back without leaving you groggy.

Sleep is recovery, but recovery alone will not make you jump higher

Sleeping well gets you on court sharp and reactive. It does not add centimetres to your jump: those only come from planned work on strength, speed and elasticity, repeated for weeks.

The way to find out whether your training is working is to measure. On the site there is a free jump test: you upload a two-second video, the system works out the height in centimetres from the flight time and gives you the number. The video never leaves your device. The principle is simple: measure first, then train, then measure again.

JHP programs if you play volleyball

• Jump Higher Program — 10 weeks on the jump, all bodyweight, €60.
• Volley In-Season Workout — 16 weeks across pre-season and in-season, to train without turning up flat on match day, €90.
• The Stretching Bible — over 50 exercises, €20. Useful in the evening to let the tension go.
• Nutrition for Explosive Strength — how to organise your meals around training, €10.

If you want them all, the JHP subscription includes 13 programs at €99/year, with WhatsApp support and free cancellation whenever you want. Or take a look at all the individual courses.

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