Original research
Understanding sleep disturbance in athletes prior to important competitions

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Abstract

Objectives

Anecdotally many athletes report worse sleep in the nights prior to important competitions. Despite sleep being acknowledged as an important factor for optimal athletic performance and overall health, little is understood about athlete sleep around competition. The aims of this study were to identify sleep complaints of athletes prior to competitions and determine whether complaints were confined to competition periods.

Design

Cross-sectional study.

Methods

A sample of 283 elite Australian athletes (129 male, 157 female, age 24 ± 5 y) completed two questionnaires; Competitive Sport and Sleep questionnaire and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index.

Results

64.0% of athletes indicated worse sleep on at least one occasion in the nights prior to an important competition over the past 12 months. The main sleep problem specified by athletes was problems falling asleep (82.1%) with the main reasons responsible for poor sleep indicated as thoughts about the competition (83.5%) and nervousness (43.8%). Overall 59.1% of team sport athletes reported having no strategy to overcome poor sleep compared with individual athletes (32.7%, p = 0.002) who utilised relaxation and reading as strategies. Individual sport athletes had increased likelihood of poor sleep as they aged. The poor sleep reported by athletes prior to competition was situational rather than a global sleep problem.

Conclusion

Poor sleep is common prior to major competitions in Australian athletes, yet most athletes are unaware of strategies to overcome the poor sleep experienced. It is essential coaches and scientists monitor and educate both individual and team sport athletes to facilitate sleep prior to important competitions.

Introduction

Within elite sport, success is underpinned by optimal preparation1 and, equally important, adequate recovery between training and during competition.2, 3 Sleep has been recognised as an essential component for athlete preparation and is suggested to be the single best recovery strategy available to an athlete.4, 5 Despite the importance of sleep for athletic performance, data on elite athletes is limited.5 Anecdotal reports suggest athletes often sleep worse around competition periods, particularly the night(s) prior to an important competition.6, 7 With reduced sleep shown to negatively influence performance this reduction may become problematic.8, 9 Sleep deprivation studies in athletes has found decreased anaerobic performances through decreased mean and total sprint time in team sport athletes after 30 h of sleep deprivation10 and decreased aerobic performance following 24 h of reduced sleep.11 Whilst it may be seldom that athletes experience total sleep deprivation prior to competition, acute partial sleep deprivation may exist. One night of poor sleep in athletes is associated with reduced reaction times,12 reduced anaerobic performance the following afternoon in football players13 and declines in cognitive processes such as visual tracking, focus, determination and mood.14, 15 As many sports rely on fine motor movements and the ability to make fast accurate decisions, reduced sleep in athletes is a genuine concern.16

As it is possible that sleep quantity and quality may influence performance,17 there is a growing need to understand sleep patterns in elite athletes. To date, relatively few studies exist that provide this information.3, 19, 20 In a survey of 632 German athletes prior to competition, 65.8% acknowledged worse sleep than normal at least once before a competition, indicating their main issue to be “problems falling asleep” (79.9%), due to “thoughts about the competition/game” (77%) and because of this “increased daytimes sleepiness” with athletes indicating “no special strategy” to enhance sleep.6 These findings provide valuable information on sleep habits of the elite athlete and provide a stimulus for further investigation. Furthermore, if elite athletes do present as “poor” sleepers it is important to differentiate poor competition sleep from chronic sleep issues if coaches, athletes and sports scientists hope to use this knowledge to enhance future performance.

The purpose of this study was to document the occurrence of sleep disturbances in athletes prior to important competitions and/or games. If sleep disturbances were indicated by athletes, we aimed to examine the particular problems, reasons and perceived consequences associated with the sleep disturbance. In addition from the information obtained we sought to determine whether a particular group of athletes had an increased likelihood of sleep disturbance. This study additionally aimed to provide a comprehensive analysis of whether individual versus team sport athlete sleep habits differ. Finally, a novel aspect of the study was to establish whether sleep disturbances are a general complaint present on a day-to-day basis in athletes or whether it is merely situational.

Section snippets

Methods

A sample of 283 elite Australian athletes (mean ± SD; age: 24 ± 5 y, age range: 16–47 y) volunteered to participate in the study from a variety of Australian sports (Table 1, Table 2). Athletes were recruited from the Australian Institute of Sport, Australian Winter Olympic team, Australian Paralympic team and National Sporting Organisations through personal contact with researchers or through coaching and/or support staff. All athletes were at an international level or were members of professional

Results

From the 283 Australian athletes sampled, 181 (64.0%) indicated they had slept worse than usual in the night(s) prior to an important competition or game over the past 12 months. There were no significant differences between gender (62.4% male vs. 65.9% female), sport (71.23% individual vs. 61.4% team) or athletes currently in or out of season (61.3% in-season vs. 69.1% out of season) (Table 3).

The 181 Australian athletes who reported worse sleep at least once prior to a competition or game

Discussion

The purpose of this study was to understand the sleep complaints of elite Australian athletes prior to important competitions and games. The main findings were (1) 64% of Australian athletes surveyed experienced sleep problems prior to a major competition at least once in the previous 12 months. The key sleep complaint reported was difficulty initiating sleep due to nervousness and thoughts prior to competition. (2) The perceived influence of poor sleep on performance varied between individual

Conclusion

Our findings highlight the majority of Australian athletes’ surveyed subjectively indicated sub-optimal sleep surrounding important competitions mainly due to nervousness and thoughts prior to competition. With evidence suggesting athletes sleep poorly pre-competition more research is needed to investigate the effects of acute sleep loss on athletic performance. The current sleep strategy results were concerning with few athletes aware of sleep strategies to utilise during these critical

Practical implications

  • Both team sport and individual sport athletes would benefit from sleep education.

  • Athletes should be made aware and educated on strategies such as sleep hygiene to assist them to sleep around important competitions.

  • Sleep strategies should specifically focus on combatting nervousness and thoughts prior to competition in athletes.

Conflict of interest

No competing agreements, professional relationships and financial interests existed where a third party may benefit from the presented results.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all athletes involved in the study. The authors also would like to express gratitude to Dr. Emma Knight and Ian Rayson for their statistical assistance.

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