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It's a tough one to get right.

You're afraid to eat too much, you're afraid to eat too little and you're constantly paranoid wondering if you're going to get the most from your diet. Sleeping's worse. You don't want to feel lazy, you don't want to feel jaded. It's fair to say that pre-game can often take more out of you than the actual game. Well, we took part in Science Week's Stop and Ask campaign to bring you some expert advice.

Sleeping

Tom Coleman, a performance and recovery expert who has worked with world champions and Olympic medalists, believes that the importance of sleep should not be understated. Coleman is a co-founder of My Nutrition and has been working with professionals in his sleep workshops. According to him, the expert, getting shut-eye is vital.

"It's about optimum recovery," he told SportsJOE. "Most recovery occurs when you're sleeping and it's about understanding the cycles of sleep and how they relate to performance. "Growth hormone secretion takes place when you're sleeping so it's crucial for recovery that you're getting sufficient sleep. "Especially if you're travelling, athletes need to understand the importance of maintaining sleep. It has an impact on your psychological and emotional level. "Memories are embedded when you sleep so it has an effect on your short term memory and therefore your tactical performance."

So what habits should sportspeople get into when it involves some good old-fashioned shut-eye? How much sleep should you take in the night before a game?

"You should be looking at it over a week, as opposed to one or two nights before a game," he said. "You want at least five 90-minute cycles - that last cycle is when you dream. The cycles go from light sleep to deep sleep, to deep, deep sleep and it comes back to light sleep again before you wake up. "Ideally, five cycles would do but many pro athletes go through six cycles which amounts to nine hours. "Eight to nine hours is ideal. "If you sleep too much, it will impact on the following night's sleep. "Some people get nervous before a big match and might find that they can't sleep as well and that's perfectly acceptable. The workshops have tips for dealing with that too, for getting to sleep if you're struggling so you can go through the required cycles that will help optimise your recovery and performance."

Eating

When to eat, what to eat, how much to eat. Game times vary, eating habits change but, fortunately, the IRFU's nutritional guidelines will keep you right. Early game (before 12pm) Choose two options for breakfast:

• Porridge
• High fibre cereal
• Scrambled eggs on whole grain toast
• Pancakes, honey, banana and yoghurt

Then, one hour before the game, eat and drink easily digested foods and fluids:

• Orange juice
• Cereal bars
• Sports drinks
• White bread
• Banana

Late game (after 2pm) As well as a high-carb breakfast, you should have lunch three hours before kick-off.

• Brown pasta/rice/potatoes/brown bread
• Meat and low fat sauce - spaghetti bolognese/tuna and light mayonnaise/chicken and low fat cheese

If you cannot eat food before a match, take a high energy smoothie instead. But try to eat! If you want to know more about combining food and exercise, you might enjoy the Sports Nutrition & the Microbiome event that's taking place as part of Science Week. For Science Week 2017, Science Foundation Ireland is asking everyone to get involved and to #StopAndAsk questions about the world around them. If there is something you have always wanted to know, whether it is why the sky is blue, if there is a science to the perfect penalty kick in football or whether eating cheese before bed can give you nightmares, #StopAndAsk to find out more! Brought to you by Science Week.