![]() ![]() It should come as no surprise then, that athletes report high rates of sleep disturbance. Factors that can influence, and in many cases impair, sleep in elite athletes include factors unique to the individual, their sleep hygiene, and health (blue ovals) and extrinsic environmental factors (large yellow arrows), many of which are engrained in sport Amount, Quality, and Timing Individuals also have differing sleep needs, responses to sleep loss, and preferred sleep times (eg, the “morning lark” or a “night owl”).įigure 1. At the individual level, variables that influence sleep include medical, psychologic, or sleep disorders, and underlying levels of pain. ![]() Complicating this further, many elite athletes are still amateur athletes, for whom sport must contend for time with school or work. Although there are too many factors to name all, the major factors to account for when considering athletes’ sleep needs include season and off-season length, practice time and duration, competitive time, and travel. Some factors are specific to an individual athlete, but many others are directly attributable to the athletic environment, which can significantly limit sleep particularly at an elite level. Sleep in the Elite AthleteĪ range of factors that can influence sleep in athletes (Figure 1). This review provides an overview of current scientific research on sleep as a performance factor and how this knowledge can be applied in practice. Coinciding with advances in sport and sleep science, along with nutrition, mental health, and wellness, sleep is being recognized as an important part of an advanced training regimen rather than a static state of inactivity. In recent years, sleep has increasingly been recognized as a controllable factor that can modify performance for elite athletes. Elite athletes-which for the purpose of this article will be defined as athletes capable of competing at a varsity or university level or higher-have long sought competitive advantages in sport. ![]()
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