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Serena Williams Reveals Problems with Insomnia and Relationships

The tennis star talks about her sleepless nights and giving up on dating.

By Dorkys Ramos

Posted: 05/01/2012 11:37 AM EDT

Filed Under Serena Williams, Celebrity Couples, Health, Common, Drake

Serena Williams recently shared her troubles with insomnia and relationships and how she's planning to deal with the two in opposite ways: the first she'll tackle head on and the latter will be pushed to the back burner while she focuses on her career. The tennis star has dated rappers Common and Drake, but it seems like her failed relationships have hurt her so much, she'd rather stay away from playing the field for the next 10 years.

“I have given up on dating,” the 27-time grand slam champion confessed to Celebuzz. ”It just hasn’t worked out well for me. I’m a really emotional person. I give my all and everything. I do make mistakes — like every human does — but the last relationship just was too much of a heartbreak for me. I just can’t go through that anymore. It was hard.”

Williams is set to compete at the summer Olympic Games in London and has decided to focus on those medals hanging around her neck rather than finding a new dude to hang off her arm.

“I just have to remove myself from that atmosphere for about the next decade or so,” Serena added. “I can’t get involved.”

But something else has gotten in the way of her performing at her best on the tennis court: lack of sleep. Williams also talked to the Huffington Post about how hard it's been for her to get a sufficient amount of sleep at night, an issue she blames on her body's natural high. But according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, insomnia is a serious issue that can increase your risk for chronic diseases like hypertension, diabetes, depression and obesity.

"A lot of people underrate sleep. You need a certain amount of sleep to rejuvenate your body, to rejuvenate the cells and to perform, whether you're going to school or whether you're playing a professional sport," she said. "I'm not a sleeper. I'm kind of like my dad, never slept much. I can really go off of five hours of sleep, but obviously that's not healthy."

Williams has already felt the effects insomnia has had on her body and has since started using and promoting a "natural" sleep aid called Sleep Sheets.

"When I don't get enough sleep I just can't get a good workout. It's low quality and I don't have enough rejuvenation in my cells to use the muscles that I need to use," she says.

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