A Thirty-Five-Minute Nap Improves Performance and Attention in the 5-m Shuttle Run Test during and outside Ramadan Observance

Abstract

Ramadan observance is characterized by several changes in behaviors, such as food and sleep, which could affect physical and cognitive performance. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of a 35-min nap (N35) opportunity on physical performance during the 5-m shuttle run test (5mSRT); attention; feelings; mood states; and perceptual measures of stress, fatigue, and muscle soreness during Ramadan observance. Fourteen physically active men (22 ± 3 years, 177 ± 4 cm, 76 ± 5 kg) were tested after a no-nap condition (N0), N35 15 days before Ramadan (BR), the last 10 days of Ramadan (DR), and 20 days after Ramadan (AR). Measures included the digit cancellation test (attention estimation), the profile of mood state (POMS), and the Hooper questionnaires. After a 5-min standard warm-up, participants performed the 5mSRT (6 × 30 s with 35 s in between; best distance (BD), total distance (TD), and fatigue index (FI) were recorded), along with the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) after each test repetition. After the 5mSRT test, participants responded to the feeling scale (FS). The results showed that TD and FI during the 5mSRT were not affected by Ramadan observance. However, BD was significantly lower than DR compared to AR after N0 (∆ = −4.3 ± 1.3%; p < 0.01) and N35 (∆ = −2.6 ± 1.0%; p < 0.05). After N0, attention decreased significantly at DR in comparison with BR (p < 0.05) and AR (p < 0.001). BD and TD improved after N35 compared to N0 at BR (∆ = +4.4 ± 2.1%, p < 0.05 for BD and ∆ = +4.8 ± 1.6%, p < 0.01 for TD), DR (∆ = +7.1 ± 2.2%, p < 0.05 for BD and ∆ = +5.1 ± 1.6%, p < 0.01 for TD), and AR (∆ = +5.5 ± 1.5%, p < 0.01 for BD and ∆ = +5.2 ± 1.2%, p < 0.001 for TD). A significant increase in attention was observed after N35 in comparison with N0 at DR (p < 0.01) and AR (p < 0.01). However, no changes were found for the perception of mood states, stress, sleep, muscle soreness, and the FI during the 5mSRT. Also, N35 was better than N0 for RPE at DR (p < 0.05), feelings at AR (p < 0.05), and fatigue estimation at AR (p < 0.01). A 35-min nap opportunity may have beneficial effects on physical and cognitive performances before, during, and after Ramadan.

The impact of daytime napping on athletic performance – A narrative review

“…Ambiguous findings, however, exist on the effects of napping on attention. Three studies have found significant gains on attention (range: 2-9%) following mid-day naps of various durations 32,42,49 ; although this does not appear to be a consistent finding. 30 Taken together, the majority of studies concur that napping may be beneficial on several cognitive tasks.…”

“…Yet to date, 17 studies have examined the effectiveness of daytime napping on athletes' perception of fatigue and/or recovery, alertness/sleepiness as well as the rate of perceived exertion (RPE). [29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][40][41][42][43][45][46][47][48][49] Most of the existing studies provide evidence to support the opinion that following a mid-day nap athletes exhibit lower perception of fatigue, 33,42 lower tiredness, 41 better mood state, 33 lower stress 42 and anger or depression. 33,43 Accordingly, the existing studies agree that participants exhibit higher vigilance/alertness following napping, irrespective of the preceding nighttime sleep (ie, normal sleep or sleep deprivation).…”

“…Five distinct studies have reported lower RPE during endurance or anaerobic efforts after a midday nap. 31,32,34,43,49 For instance, Blanchfield et al 34 found that runners who improved their endurance performance following napping exhibited lower RPE when exercising at 100% of time to exhaustion. By contrast, others demonstrated no impact of a short-term napping (20-30 min) on final and postexercise values of RPE during prolonged running and post-Wingate test, respectively.…”

“…69 In this direction, others have used less complex and more practical methods of nap recording, such as actigraphy or accelerometers. 34,35,40 By contrast, the majority of the studies (71%) have provided napping opportunity without 29,30,33,42,49 or with 31,32,43,45,46 subjective measures of nap recording; thus, in these studies the exact amount of sleep was not adequately quantified. In addition, other studies have used protocols in which sleep recording was either subjectively measured or were not specified.…”

Ramadan daily intermittent fasting reduces objectively assessed habitual physical activity among adults

“…Ramadan fasting has captured public attention in recent years due to the recent rise in popularity of daily intermittent fasting as means to improve health and reduce weight [4]. Ramadan fasting has been well documented in scienti c literature [5][6][7][8] where scientists have investigated the effects of fasting during Ramadan with respect to its impact on an individual's biochemistry (e.g., glucose utilization) [9][10][11][12], blood pressure [13], metabolism [14], bodyweight [11,14], sleep [3,9,15] and general health [9,16]. Much of these existing research considered the challenges of chronic illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension on fasting Muslims or focused on athlete's performance during Ramadan Fasting [17,18].…”