Olympic Champion Meryl Davis on the Power of Rest, Recovery, and Airweave

By the time Meryl Davis stepped off the ice with an Olympic gold medal around her neck, she had already learned one of the hardest truths about greatness: you can’t out-skate exhaustion.

“As Charlie and I worked to embrace an elite athlete mentality and way of life, we learned that rest was not only an important aspect of recovery from an intense day of training, but also the only way we could show up ready to push ourselves again the following day,” Davis shares. “In order to keep growing and improving, we needed to care for our bodies in every way possible. Performing at one’s best isn’t always about doing the most, but finding that balance between training and recovery that works for you.”

Now, away from Olympic competition, rest has taken on new meaning for Davis. “Well, almost all my days are more restful now than they were in those years of intense training,” she says. “I love my alone time at the gym, quiet walks with my husband and our dog, and weekend adventures up in the mountains or at the beach. Without the pressure of Olympic competition, I don’t feel as rushed as I once did and have the freedom to pivot more in my current life when that feels right. I’m also not as fearful of injury as I was when I was competing, so some ‘rest days’ look more like a great adventure outdoors.”

That shift has reinforced one of Davis’s most important takeaways: patience. “I think patience is such an important part of getting to where you want to go,” she reflects. “Especially when you’re doing something you love, it can be all too easy to push yourself too hard. Finding that balance is worth doing and involves a great deal of learning to listen to your own body along the way.”

For her, that balance begins with sleep, something she calls her “secret weapon.” “For me, consistency is key. I love being able to bring my Airweave products with me when I travel so that I’m prepared for the best sleep possible and can avoid potential issues with an unfamiliar sleep environment,” she says. “Temperature is also big for me and I love that my Airweave keeps me cool and comfortable throughout the night.”

It is a perspective she hopes others, whether athletes, students, or busy professionals, take to heart. “My advice would be to invest in figuring out what you need and what works best for you,” she says. “Rest and recovery are such important parts of those lofty pursuits. When the rest and recovery side of things is planned and handled, it’s so much easier (not to mention more fun) when it comes time to put in the work.”

Looking back on her most intense years of training, Davis knows just how crucial sleep was to her success. “In the years leading up to our second Olympic Games, our days felt incredibly stressful,” she recalls. “I really feel that getting good nights of sleep and being able to wake up feeling refreshed each day was the only way we were able to face it all, over and over again. That ability to regularly rest and reset was a big part of us being able to make our dream a reality.”

For Davis, rest is not the absence of effort, it is the foundation of achievement. At Airweave, we believe the same: that the quality of your recovery shapes the quality of your performance, on and off the ice.

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