Bubba Wallace, a NASCAR Cup Series driver, recently spoke about the importance of sleep and his collaboration with Chilisleep and their resident sleep specialist Tara Youngblood.
Bubba Wallace, a driver with 23XI Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series, recently spoke about his work with Chilisleep and its resident sleep expert Tara Youngblood.
Wallace, a professional race car driver, understands that quick reflexes and mental toughness are just two of the many qualities required to be successful behind the wheel of his #23 Toyota, and the easiest yet most essential way for him to obtain those qualities is to get a good night’s sleep.
The 27-year-old Mobile, Alabama native takes pride in figuring out the best ways to maximize his chances of getting the best night’s sleep possible, and he recently spoke with us about what he considers to be a “unfair advantage” over other drivers: the OOLER sleep system, which is available to anyone and trusted by many, including the Cincinnati Reds’ roster.
We spoke with Wallace about some of the things he’s learnt and done differently as a result of this cooperation in order to create the ideal atmosphere for a good night’s sleep.
“Being able to get an OOLER sleep system!” he told Beyond the Flag when asked about one of the top advantages of this partnership. “Controlling how hot my body temperature gets when I’m in a deep sleep has been the biggest thing. I’m a hot-natured person. I sweat, I’m sweating now talking to you; just a hot-natured body.
“So being able to figure out what my temperature setting is, which is right around 68 to 70, is good. It keeps me cool. I don’t have to worry about waking up in the middle of the night because I’m sweaty and icky.”
But it’s more than just being comfortable in the middle of the night, especially given the conditions in which he must operate as a professional NASCAR driver.
“Getting a good night’s rest, that’s super important, especially before races, to make sure I’m mentally and physically ready to go and compete,” he said. “And it’s also a good recovery tool as well after races. You’re mentally and physically drained after the race — long hard day at the track. Get home, turn the OOLER on and pass out like a baby. So it’s been really nice to be able to be partnered up with them and learn about really how important sleep is.”
While the system is designed to create the ideal external sleep environment possible, it can also make it much simpler to fall asleep when you have other things on your mind that make it hard.
“I think for me it’s just, my mind’s always racing, figuring out how to shut your mind off,” he explained. “It’s easy for me to kind of control things, and when it’s time to go to bed, it’s like, ‘Okay, shut the lights off, put your phone away, turn your OOLER system on, and then close your eyes and go to bed.’ And usually once you feel the cold temperature, like up to 68 to 70, turn on, then it’s like, ‘Alright, I feel good, I feel like I’ll be able to go to sleep.’ Then you wake up and you do that process again when it’s time to go to bed again the next day.”
Even before the collaboration, Wallace was keen to point out that he would never blame a poor performance on a bad night’s sleep, but he understands the significance of a good night’s rest, especially with a sleep routine that isn’t always constant — and that goes for anyone.
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