Sleep and The Mental Game in the NBA Finals
36m | Jul 12, 2021In this episode
- Why injury can become an identity crisis for an elite athlete
- Marcus Stroman’s 2015 ACL comeback — and what the original episode got slightly wrong about the timeline
- Why younger and older athletes may value recovery differently
- How modern sports performance moved from “more work” toward specialized recovery
- Why preparation improves the odds without guaranteeing performance
- The psychology behind searching for a competitive edge
- Why sleep complaints are so common in athletes
- Phones, social media, arousal and small behavioral sleep experiments
- Why sleep hygiene is not the same thing as treating chronic insomnia
- Why Game 7 sleep starts in the preseason
- Michael Grandner’s idea of sleep as an investment in tomorrow’s performance
- What the 2020 NBA bubble taught researchers about travel and home-court advantage
- NBA and WNBA evidence on travel, circadian disruption and performance
- What Neil got right — and wrong — about Ravi Allada’s MLB jet-lag study
- Why Neil’s historical Ambien and melatonin claims needed more nuance
- How sleep loss can show up in attention, decision-making and emotion regulation
- DeMar DeRozan, Kevin Love and the normalization of athlete mental-health conversations
- Why Auerbach believes everyone is a performer in their own domain
About Dr. Alex Auerbach
Alex Auerbach, PhD, MBA, is a performance psychologist and executive coach. At the time of this 2021 interview he was Director of Wellness and Development for the Toronto Raptors, responsible for mental health, mental performance and player development. He later served as Senior Director of Wellness and Development before leaving the organization. His work has included athletes in the NBA, NFL, WNBA and NCAA, elite military units and business leaders. In 2026 his work is focused on private performance and talent advisory for executives and high performers.
MENTIONED
Alex Auerbach
Auerbach’s current performance psychology and executive advisory work.
Alex Auerbach and the Toronto Raptors
A 2021 Raptors feature from the period of this interview, discussing the organization’s mental-health work and Auerbach’s role.
Toronto Raptors: When it comes to mental health, we are all on the same team
Marcus Stroman’s 2015 return from ACL surgery
MLB’s report on Stroman returning in September after initially being ruled out for the season.
MLB: Stroman returns to the Blue Jays
Sleep and the athlete — 2021 expert consensus
Consensus recommendations emphasizing individualized athlete sleep needs, travel, training, stress and recovery.
NBA COVID bubble, travel and circadian disruption
The natural experiment Auerbach remembers in the interview.
Jonathan Charest — NBA back-to-back travel study
Travel distance, direction, recovery and outcomes across the 2013–2020 NBA seasons.
Eastward jet lag and NBA performance
A later analysis finding worse home-team performance as eastward jet lag increased.
WNBA travel, jet lag and home-court advantage — 2026
An 18-season analysis extending the travel/circadian-performance question to professional women’s basketball.
Sleep extension and basketball performance
The 2011 Stanford study of sleep extension, sprint speed, shooting accuracy, reaction time and mood in collegiate basketball players.
Sleep and basketball — systematic review
A review of 28 studies on sleep, basketball performance and recovery.
Ravi Allada and MLB jet lag
The 20-season, 46,535-game study Neil discusses in the episode.
AASM behavioral insomnia guideline
Current evidence hierarchy for CBT-I, sleep restriction, stimulus control, relaxation and sleep hygiene.
Zolpidem, melatonin and chronic insomnia
The AASM pharmacologic guideline discussed in the 2026 archive clarification.
FDA warning for Ambien and other Z-drugs
The boxed warning covering rare but serious complex sleep behaviors.
Melatonin for circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders
The AASM guideline showing why the episode’s “melatonin does nothing” claim was too broad.
Kevin Love — Everyone Is Going Through Something
The 2018 essay Auerbach references as part of the changing public conversation around athlete mental health.
