Oklahoma State's Rudolph hopes more sleep improves game

Mason Rudolph is quickly understanding the importance of sleep.

Oklahoma State has hired Rise Science to help its players improve their sleeping habits, and Rudolph is already seeing the benefits. He's been wearing orange-tinted sunglasses before bed while viewing his phone, which blocks out blue light and helps him get to sleep faster.

"That is like, almost taking a sleeping pill," the Cowboys quarterback told Mark Cooper of Tulsa World.

Rudolph is one of 35 players who were educated in the program this offseason and is now almost getting eight hours of sleep per night, something he believes is helping him mentally.

"Kind of gives you a psychological edge when you know you've gotten good rest throughout the whole week," Rudolph said.

One of the founders of Rise, Jeff Khan, noted sleep is the best thing that can improve an athlete's performance.

"Sleep is the most potent performance-enhancing activity that we really know of," Khan said. "There's nothing that you can do, there's no drug, there's no routine, there's no food you can eat that's going to have a bigger impact on your performance scientifically than the sleep you get at night."

Khan helped start the program while at Northwestern as a student and began using its methods on the Wildcats. Rise Science has since branched out to professional teams as well, including the Jacksonville Jaguars.