Pre-Game Nap: What WNBA Players and Studies Say
Pre-game nap habits of WNBA players such as Lexie Hull and Sabrina Ionescu, plus what studies show about nap length, timing, and lost sleep after big games.
Jem Jeins
10/25/20266 min read
A pre-game nap is part of the routine for several WNBA players. Indiana Fever guard Lexie Hull told Fox News in April 2026 that she almost always takes one, about five hours before tip-off, for at least 20 minutes. She believes most teammates do the same.
This article goes through what players have said about napping and sleep, what studies of athletes measured, and what a survey says about fans who lose sleep over the game. If your own evenings run busy afterwards, Hypnagogia-Pass is one calm wind-down to consider. Most studies below are small or pool small trials, so each finding comes with its limits.
Key takeaways
Hull and Sabrina Ionescu have both described a regular pre-game nap; Sue Bird has said she naps whenever she can.
A 2026 analysis of 12 trials with 179 team-sport athletes linked a daytime nap to better endurance and agility, with a wide margin of error for power.
A 2021 review of 37 studies suggested naps of 20 to 90 minutes, taken between 13:00 and 16:00, and a 30-minute gap before play.
Fox News reported that Angel Reese said she did not sleep after a missed game-winning layup. A betting site's survey found 26 percent of US fans lose sleep over their team; it is a survey, not a study.
What WNBA players have said about naps
Hull described her routine in a Fox News interview: a nap of at least 20 minutes, at home or at the hotel, followed by skincare, makeup, hair and an outfit. She has kept it up for four WNBA seasons and calls the nap her favourite part.
New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu gave a similar account to Bustle in August 2026, saying she always takes a pre-game shower and a pre-game nap. She aims to be in bed by 10 p.m., though she says that is not always realistic; after one 8 p.m. game she got to bed around 1 a.m.
Sue Bird, in a 2017 Q&A for WHOOP, said she squeezes in naps whenever she can, mostly on planes, and has a coffee nap on game days. These are personal habits from interviews, not tested methods.
What studies show about napping athletes
A 2026 meta-analysis in Frontiers in Physiology pooled 12 randomised trials with 179 team ball-sport athletes, each comparing a daytime nap with no nap after normal night sleep. Naps were scheduled between 13:00 and 15:30, most often at 14:00.
Napping went with a large gain in endurance (standardised difference 0.96, 95% interval 0.62 to 1.29) and a moderate gain in agility (0.55, interval 0.01 to 1.09). Power and strength moved by 0.50, but the interval, −0.09 to 1.09, crossed zero, so that result is uncertain.
A 2025 meta-analysis in Biology of Sport pooled 35 studies with 489 physically active people. After a normal night, napping went with less fatigue, better mood states, lower perceived effort during and after exercise and a better sense of recovery. It did not change sleepiness, muscle soreness or heart rate during exercise. The certainty of the evidence was moderate for perceived effort and low to very low for most other results.
How long, and at what time?
A 2021 systematic review in Nature and Science of Sleep covered 37 studies of moderate quality. Its authors noted that most studies did not report nap frequency, length or timing consistently, so any advice is a cautious summary.
With that caveat, the review suggested athletes may consider naps of 20 to 90 minutes between 13:00 and 16:00. It also advised leaving about 30 minutes before training or competition so that sleep inertia, the groggy stretch after waking, can clear.
The 2026 analysis adds a subgroup result from small trials: naps longer than 60 minutes went with the largest gains in endurance and power, and naps of 31 to 60 minutes also went with substantial benefits. Hull's 20 minutes sits at the short end of the review's range, and no study here tested her routine.
When the night is the hard part
Sleep around games is not always a choice. After a win over Washington in August 2022, several Los Angeles Sparks players spent a night at Dulles airport when their flight was cancelled. Nneka Ogwumike said it was her first time in 11 seasons sleeping in an airport, and Chiney Ogwumike posted a video at 2:14 a.m. of herself dancing on airport carts, as Jezebel reported. A team spokesperson said every player was offered a hotel room.
A 2021 narrative review in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine looked at NBA schedules and said frequent air travel and compressed schedules commonly disrupt sleep length, quality and timing. It also said research specific to that schedule is limited, and it was not a WNBA study.
Bird has said her lowest WHOOP recovery score, 2 percent, came after a late night and an early flight, and that TV is a soothing part of her bedtime routine. If your own nights get unsettled after big moments, our posts on what to try when you cannot sleep right now and sleep sounds and sleep videos may help you think it through.
Then there is the game itself. Atlanta lost to Indiana 95-91 in overtime on August 16, 2026, after Angel Reese missed a game-winning layup in a tie game. After the Dream beat Las Vegas on Tuesday, she said she had not slept, per Fox News. Caitlin Clark said in June that she slept poorly the night before a game because she was excited about revealing her first signature shoe, per Yardbarker.
Fans lose sleep over the game too
A survey by the betting site Wetten.com, reported in September 2024 by 97.1 The River, asked 3,000 US sports fans about sleep after games. It found that 26 percent said they lose sleep over their team's or athlete's performance, by an average of 62 minutes.
New Jersey fans reported the most, 91 minutes on average. A company survey is not a peer-reviewed study, and we did not find a published study that measured fans' sleep after games, so treat these numbers as a snapshot of what some fans say.
If the final buzzer leaves you replaying plays, our guide to racing thoughts at night and the post on overthinking before sleep cover the thinking side of that evening.
Something to try tonight
Hypnagogia is the drifting, half-lit stretch between waking and sleep. Hypnagogia-Pass is our library of 30 videos, more than 2,400 minutes in total, curated by CantSwitchOff to walk you through the hypnagogic pass: a word, then a matching picture, one after another on a dark screen, with no talking and soft background sound. No ads. It is something to try, not a treatment. You can read why we built Hypnagogia-Pass before you decide.
Your pre-game nap questions, answered
Do WNBA players nap before games?
Some have said so in interviews. Lexie Hull told Fox News she almost always naps about five hours before tip-off, for at least 20 minutes, and Sabrina Ionescu told Bustle she always takes a pre-game nap. Sue Bird has said she naps whenever she can. These are individual accounts, and we found no league-wide count of players who nap.
How long should you nap before a game?
A 2021 review of 37 athlete studies suggested naps of 20 to 90 minutes between 13:00 and 16:00, finishing about 30 minutes before play to let grogginess fade. The review also noted that studies reported nap details inconsistently, so this is cautious guidance, not a rule. A doctor can advise on your situation.
Does napping help athletes perform?
A 2026 analysis of 12 trials with 179 team-sport athletes linked daytime naps to better endurance and agility, while the result for power was uncertain. A 2025 analysis found lower fatigue and perceived effort. Both pooled small trials, and the certainty was low for most outcomes.
Why can't athletes sleep after a loss?
We did not find a study answering that for WNBA players. What exists are statements: Fox News reported that Angel Reese said she did not sleep after a missed game-winning layup, and Caitlin Clark said she slept poorly the night before a game out of excitement. Those are single accounts, not measurements.
Why can't I sleep after watching a game?
No published study we found measured this directly. A Wetten.com survey of 3,000 US fans found 26 percent lose sleep over their team's performance, by 62 minutes on average. It comes from a betting site, so read it as what some fans report, not as a measurement.
Can a racing mind make a nap harder?
Many people say so, but we did not find a study that tests it for naps. Players have described personal ways to wind down, such as Bird's TV, and cognitive shuffling is one imagery method people try at bedtime. Treat any of these as something to try, not a promise.
Know someone who's awake right now?
If you have a friend you have recently talked with about a big game and a short night, or someone you think needs this information, send them this article. It brings them what the science says, in plain words.
Share: Facebook · X · WhatsApp · LinkedIn · Email
If trouble sleeping lasts for weeks, or if racing thoughts come with other symptoms that worry you, please talk with a doctor. This article is general information, not medical advice, and Hypnagogia-Pass has not been tested in a clinical trial.