Sleep of professional athletes: Underexploited potential to improve health and performance

Abstract

Sleep disorders have become increasingly prevalent affecting health and working ability. Restorative sleep may be considered important for athletes' successful recovery and performance. However, some athletes seem to experience major problems in sleeping. Thus far, there is limited scientific information about their sleep. This study aimed to evaluate the quality of sleep and the prevalence of sleep disorders as well as the impact of a structured sleep counselling protocol in professional athletes. A total of 107 professional ice hockey players participated in the study. The exploratory observational 1-year follow-up study consisted of questionnaire-based sleep assessment followed by general sleep counselling and, when needed, polysomnography and an individual treatment plan. One in every four players was found to have a significant problem in sleeping. All athletes considered sleep essential for their health and three in every four players considered that counselling would improve their performance. Counselling and individual treatment were found to improve significantly the quality of sleep with the mean alteration of 0.6 (95% CI 0.2-1.0, P = 0.004) in a scale from 0 to 10. Our results support that sleep problems are common in professional athletes. However, systematic examination, counselling and individual treatment planning can improve the quality of their sleep.

Effects of training and competition on the sleep of elite athletes: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…The mean age of athletes ranged from 16 to 28 years; however, one case study recruited a 31-year-old athlete 53. Athletes were recruited from 21 sports including soccer (n=14),25 36–38 42 46 47 5052 53 60 64 72 73 Australian rules football (n=11),23 33 39 45 50 52 57–59 63 70 cycling (n=6),42 48–50 54 63 rugby league (n=6),29–31 39 68 69 swimming (n=5),32 50 62 63 71 rugby union (n=5),24 34 50 52 66 netball (n=6),741 55 56 61 74 basketball (n=3),50 63 67 rowing (n=3),43 44 51 mountain biking (n=3),42 50 63 triathlon (n=3),42 50 63 American football,75 76 race walking (n=2),50 63 ice hockey,77 diving (n=1),51 running (n=1),40 volleyball (n=1),42 judo (n=1),13 handball (n=1),42 canoeing (n=1),51 speed skating (n=1),51 synchronised swimming (n=1)65 and ballet (n=1) 35. ‘Competitive-elite’ athletes were recruited by 65% (n=35) of studies,23–25 29–34 36 38 39 42 45 48–53 55–59 63 65–70 74 75 77 and 37% (n=20) recruited ‘semi-elite’ athletes (online supplementary file 2).…”

“…Mild sleep-disordered breathing has been found to occur in 8% of college American footballers76 and 19% of professional American footballers 114. One in four professional ice hockey players has significant problems sleeping,77 while a study examining rugby and cricket players found 38% defined themselves as snorers 115. Athletes with high body mass index, large neck circumference or high levels of adiposity may be at a heightened risk of developing a sleep disorder 76 114.…”

Self‐reported sleep quantity, quality and sleep hygiene in elite athletes

“…More specifically, a small but notable number of athletes was identified with ‘restless leg symptoms’ (RLS/PLMD). The current prevalence of potential sleep disorders compares with the general population and is in accordance with previous findings among athletes (Swinbourne et al ., ; Tuomilehto et al ., ), thereby highlighting the need for sleep monitoring and potentially treatment of sleep disorders in elite athletes.…”

Melatonin and sleep responses following exercise in elite female athletes

“…Athletes experience high training load demands and stress (Tuomilehto et al, 2016) with sleep widely regarded as important for performance and recovery (Halson, 2013). Athletes often experience poorer sleep quantity in comparison to non-athletes (Driller et al, 2017a) and reports have shown that sleep is often impaired on nights following training or competition .…”