Poor sleep quality and insufficient sleep of a collegiate student-athlete population
Introduction
Sleep has a critical role in human functioning, physiology, and cognitive and physical recovery. Previous studies have demonstrated that sleep deprivation and chronic sleep loss can negatively impact cognitive functioning, learning and memory, reaction time, auditory vigilance, and mood.1, 2, 3 Insufficient hours of sleep have also been shown to impact metabolism and endocrine function, increase perceived exertion during exercise, and impair performance outcomes such as weight training.4, 5, 6 For athletes, optimal functioning in the aforementioned areas is critical, as sports performance strongly relies on the combination of cognitive, physiological, and physical outputs.
Sleep quality and sleep duration have important roles for athletic training, postexercise recovery, mood, and sports performance7, 8, 9, 10; however, the current literature characterizing the sleep of athletes is sparse. The available evidence suggests that highly trained rugby and cricket athletes experience poor sleep quality and high levels of daytime sleepiness.11 Olympic athletes from 4 sports have demonstrated poorer indicators of sleep quality assessed by objective actigraphy than nonathletic controls.12 Moreover, sleep disturbances and poor sleep prior to competition have been reported among Australian and German individual and team sports.13, 14 Additionally, differences in training demands between sports may impact sleep need.12 Little is known about the sleep health, including sleep quality and sleep duration, of individual and team sport athletes across a wide range of sports and how their functioning is impacted outside of the laboratory within the context of the psychological, emotional, and physical demands that are present during a competitive season.
The present study therefore aimed to investigate the sleep quality and sleep duration, as well as the subsequent daytime functioning, of an entire collegiate athlete population at a single university. It was hypothesized that athletes experience poor sleep quality, regularly obtain insufficient hours of sleep, and experience daytime sleepiness. Knowledge of sleep behaviors may aid in identifying potential areas for intervention to improve sleep and recovery in athletes.
Section snippets
Participants
Athletes were recruited from Stanford University, which is a National Collegiate Athletic Association member institution and participates at the Division I level. There are approximately 800 total varsity athletes at Stanford comprising 35 varsity sports teams: 16 for men, 19 for women, and 1 coed (sailing). Athletes were included if they were members of a varsity sports team at Stanford University during the 2011-2012 National Collegiate Athletic Association season. Athletes completed the
Participants
A total of 628 athletes participated in the study and were members of the following 29 varsity sports teams at Stanford University: men’s and women’s basketball, golf, gymnastics, rowing, sailing, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field, volleyball, water polo; men’s baseball, football, wrestling; and women’s field hockey, lacrosse, lightweight rowing, softball, synchronized swimming. Several track & field athletes also participate on the men’s and women’s cross country teams but were
Discussion
The present study examined collegiate athletes across a wide range of individual and team sports to assess the sleep quality, sleep duration, and daytime sleepiness of a collegiate student-athlete population. The main findings are that collegiate athletes generally experience poor sleep quality, habitually obtain insufficient sleep, and experience substantial levels of daytime sleepiness. These findings have important implications including potentially impaired physiologic and cognitive
Conclusions
The current study examined sleep quality, sleep duration, and levels of daytime sleepiness in 628 collegiate athletes across a wide range of 29 individual and team sports. Our findings indicated that collegiate athletes experience poor sleep quality, regularly obtain inadequate hours of sleep, and experience substantial daytime sleepiness. These results have important implications potentially leading to increased consequences on mental and physical health, increased injury risk, and impaired
Disclosure
CM reports personal fees from NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB teams; other from Nike; Gatorade; and ESPN outside the submitted work. EK reports personal fees from Nyxoah, Cognition Life Science, ReVENT Medical, Pillar Palatal, Gerard Scientific, Berendo Scientific, and Magnap and grants from Inspire Medical Systems outside the submitted work. BM reports personal fees from Fatigue Science outside the submitted work. WD has nothing to disclose.
Acknowledgments
We want to acknowledge and thank the Stanford Sports Performance coaches for their assistance in the study. The authors would also like to thank the Stanford varsity coaches and the Stanford student-athletes for their participation.
Funding: This was not an industry-sponsored study. This study was supported by the Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic and Research Laboratory.
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