Brentford captain Christian Norgaard feared he would have become addicted to sleeping tablets had it not been for the intervention of the club's sleeping coach.
The Denmark midfielder began taking the tablets before away games at his former club Brondby after becoming anxious about a lack of sleep hindering his performance.
The 31-year-old says Bees sleep coach Anna West - who has been working with the club since 2016 - provided coping strategies and techniques that helped wean himself off them.
"I really clearly remember when it [first] happened," Norgaard told BBC Radio 5 Live presenter Rick Edwards.
"It was before quite an important cup game in Denmark and the mind started going. I had a bad night's sleep and I brought those thoughts to the game and I was like, 'what if I don't play well now because I've slept bad?'.
"That became my thinking pattern before the next game, 'I need to sleep [well] before the game otherwise I'll be a disaster in the game'. So that's why you have to break those patterns up."
Norgaard was speaking to 5 Live's Breakfast programme as part of a special podcast going behind the scenes at Brentford.
Former Tottenham and Everton midfielder Dele Alli revealed in a 2023 interview that he had spent six months in rehab for a sleeping pill addiction and mental health issues, adding that misuse of the tablets was "something going around more than people realise in football".
Comments
Post a Comment