“Being an Athlete is Not Easy”: Why Sleep is Emily Campbell’s Superpower

Train hard, sleep harder. That’s the mantra of Britain’s most successful weightlifter of modern times and Dreams ambassador, Emily Campbell.

With an intense training schedule ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Team GB’s Emily joins us for an exclusive interview to share how she handles her down time and prioritises her wellbeing to handle the pressure of Olympic glory.

‘I think my earliest memory was as a kid watching the Olympics and just being an absolute awe. Though it wasn’t really until the beginning of my 20s that I was like, ‘I really want to go to the Olympics’.’

‘My childhood heroes would be Denise Lewis, Jessica Ennis-Hill and Kelly Holmes. It was just so important for me to see women that look like me on the TV doing amazing things.

‘They essentially paved the way for women of colour to do what they want to do, and they made us want to reach for the stars and achieve our dreams. That’s really, really special.’

‘I think a good sleep routine really helps with your mental health. I would say I’m like opposite ends of the spectrum. I’m really extroverted, the baddest person in the room, life and soul of the party. But then when I get home, I’m probably one of those introverted people.

‘My bedroom allows me to be that introverted person, to kick back, put my music on, chill out, read a book, wind down, and recharge that drained social battery.’

‘I think my environment for when I go to sleep is definitely get the fairy lights on first. I’ll either have some form of TV or music on just to wind down before I decide I’m going to go to sleep.

‘Sleeping performance is absolutely everything, especially when you are training so hard, you need your body to be able to recover.

‘I am an absolute queen of sleep, I can nap in the day for an hour comfortably and then sleep all the way through the night, go to bed at maybe 10 o’clock and then wake up at eight o’clock in the morning.’