(CNN) -- Even a sleep expert gets tired sometimes. "It's been a long day," explains a weary-sounding Nick Littlehales, as he answers the phone to start an interview explaining how he went from aspiring golf pro to the go-to recovery guru for top soccer clubs and Olympic athletes. While, for many of us, sleep deprivation often compounds into a seemingly neverending spiral of exhaustion, Littlehales has dedicated most of his adult life to finding the tools that break the cycle. If he has a late night, he knows how to factor it into his schedule and immediately get back on track.
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Nick Littlehales is a sleep coach who has worked with leading sports institutions
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His big break came back in 1998 when he contacted soccer club Manchester United
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The 54-year-old has more recently worked with European champion Real Madrid
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His sleep tips helped British cyclist Bradley Wiggins win Tour de France and Olympic gold
Real Madrid
The methods that he has used to help footballers at clubs such as United and @placeholder, along with cycling champions like Bradley Wiggins, are surprisingly simple -- once you dump the widely-held sleep concepts that he says have become increasingly obsolete.
European
"Although it may look on the outside that they play more matches than any other club in @placeholder, if not the world, and they play at ridiculous times at night, but within all of their schedules there is a very strong recovery balance against activity."
Bradley Wiggins
"We created a sleep kit, which is a replication of the ideal layers -- pillow, duvet, linen -- all put together to allow a small group of staff to go into the hotel and unzip @placeholder's bag, he sleeps in it, they zip it back up and take it to the next hotel.