Associations Between Sleep Patterns and Performance Development Among Norwegian Chess Players

Abstract

An inherent part of elite-level chess are high emotional and cognitive stress loads related to performance development. Sleep is a crucial recovery strategy, previously implicated in athletic performance. The main purpose of the current study was to investigate the associations between performance development and objectively measured sleep in a sample of 14 Norwegian chess players over a period of 120 consecutive days. Seven of the chess players in the current sample had negative development in their International Chess Federation (FIDE) ranking score in the period of sleep monitoring, while 7 had positive development. The sleep patterns of the chess players with positive performance development were different from the players with negative development-with higher amounts of deep sleep, less rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and lower respiration rate in the positive performance development group compared to the negative performance development group. The findings are discussed in terms of existing knowledge on the importance of sleep stage distribution and sleep durations for athlete functioning, and in light of applied implications and possible future research.

Variations in Elite Female Soccer Players' Sleep, and Associations With Perceived Fatigue and Soccer Games

“…Recently, a full validation of Somnofy against manually scored PSG has shown Somnofy to be an adequate measure of sleep and wake, as well as sleep stages, in a healthy adult population (Toften et al, 2020 ). Sleep studies in athletes, investigating the associations between sleep variables, sleep stages, and physical and mental loads, have shown the Somnofy to be appropriate for use in athletic populations (Hrozanova et al, 2018 , 2020 ; Moen et al, 2020 ).…”

Sleep Characteristics in Esport Players and Associations With Game Performance: Residual Dynamic Structural Equation Modeling

“…Their experienced difficulties to fall asleep when they intended to fall asleep were supported by sleep onset latency (SOL), wherein esport players used 0:57 h (SD = 0:54) to fall asleep. The SOL time is also higher compared to findings among chess players in the same age group (Moen et al, 2020 ). The current results showed later sleep onset and sleep offset than what is normal among athletes in other traditional sports (Hrozanova et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Interestingly, deep sleep, REM sleep, light sleep and total sleep time were not found to have the same individual stable variation. Importantly, it is expected that the distribution of these sleep stages varies within individuals, since the different sleep stages have different tasks in the recovery process as we have outlined in the introduction, and that recovery demands will vary regarding variations in the stress loads the players are exposed to (Moen et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Such evidence connectiong stress and rates of respiratory ventilation aligns well with the current finding of lower non-REM respiration rate among players with better game performance. Interestingly, a recent study also suggested that less favorable sleep patterns documented among chess players that experienced negative performance development over a period of 4 months, could be explained by their experiences of distress (Moen et al, 2020 ). A recent study among junior athletes has also shown that worry and perceived stress were negatively associated with sleep quality (Hrozanova et al, 2019 ).…”

“…Importantly, research that includes esport players with longitudinal designs and measurements that detect sleep staging is needed to fully detect and describe their sleep patterns, and understand associations between their sleep and their performances and vice versa. Interestingly, a recent study among chess players indicated that sleep was associated with the players' performances (Moen et al, 2020 ). Chess players, like esport players, also depend on their perceptual cognitive skills to develop their performances.…”