Golden State Warriors

Andre Iguodala says a new sleep schedule helped take him to another level

Published Oct. 6, 2015 5:43 p.m. ET

foxsports

Like many people, Golden State Warriors forward Andre Iguodala struggled with his sleeping habits.

On some nights, Iguodala wouldn't fall asleep until around 4 a.m., sleep for three hours and then wake up at 7 a.m. to get ready for practice. That, of course, is a terrible sleep schedule for a professional athlete, but it's a battle Iguodala dealt with ever since attending the University of Arizona.

Then, two years ago, everything changed.

Iguodala started working with a sleep researcher at Stanford, and it changed his life. The focus was getting Iguodala on a sleep schedule that would help produce deep, meaningful sleep and rest.

Here is the Huffington Post with more on Iguodala's sleep patterns:

"Soon, courtesy of an expert at Stanford, he had a series of steps to follow to ensure longer, more restful sleeps. One of the first steps was an electronics detox. Starting around 11:15 p.m., Iguodala would exile his cell phone and computer from his bedroom, put on his Jawbone UP and do a few breathing exercises. When the clock struck 12:00 a.m., he’d usually be in mid-REM cycle -- four hours earlier than he had used to go to bed.

"As ESPN has reported, research conducted by the Stanford School of Medicine has found that getting a proper amount of sleep affects not just basketball players’ exhaustion levels and injury risk, but also their shooting: When the players in the study got 10 hours of sleep per night, they shot 9.2 percent better from the three-point line and 9 percent better from the charity stripe.

"Iguodala’s play as of late has supported these data points. According to statistics collected by Jawbone, the swingman exhibited a 29 percent gain in points per minute and a 37 percent drop in turnovers per game when he slept an adequate number of hours."

Vuala. Better sleep equals better play.

Iguodala has already said that wearable technology in practice helped the Warriors win the championship, and now he is attributing a better sleep schedule and sleep technology with helping him raise his game to a Finals MVP-quality level.

Score another one for the tech community.