ORIGINAL ARTICLE  EPIDEMIOLOGY AND CLINICAL MEDICINE 

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2019 April;59(4):708-16

DOI: 10.23736/S0022-4707.18.08498-0

Copyright © 2018 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Risk factors for precompetitive sleep behavior in elite female athletes

Maria-Raquel SILVA ^{1, 2, 3, 4} ✉, Teresa PAIVA ^{1, 5}

¹ Institute of Molecular Medicine, Medical Faculty of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal; ² Faculty of Health Sciences, University Fernando Pessoa, Oporto, Portugal; ³ Research Center for Anthropology and Health, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal; ⁴ Scientific Commission of the National School of Gymnastics, Gymnastics Federation of Portugal, Lisbon, Portugal; ⁵ CENC, Sleep Medicine Center, Lisbon, Portugal

BACKGROUND: Sleep is of major importance for the athletes’ short and long-term health, performance and recovery; however, published studies on athletes’ sleep and even fewer before competition are scarce. This study evaluated the risk factors of sleep in young female gymnasts before an international competition.
METHODS: Sixty-seven rhythmic gymnasts (M=18.7, SD=2.9 years) of high performance (M=36.6, SD=7.6 h/week) were evaluated regarding training and sport practice, body composition, sleep duration, daytime sleepiness by the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, sleep quality by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, precompetitive anxiety by the Sport Competition Anxiety Test form A, and detailed dietary intake just prior to a world competition.
RESULTS: The majority of the participants (83.6%) presented reduced body fat levels (M=9.1, SD=2.1%) and low energy availability (EA, M=31.5, SD=11.9 kcal/kgFFM/day). They slept 8h10±1h30/night on weekdays and 8h40±00h40/night on weekends, 67% suffered from mild daytime sleepiness and 78% had a reduced sleep quality. Precompetitive anxiety was on average moderate (M=22.7, SD=3.2). The risk factors for short sleep duration were: 1.92 for a training volume>30 hours/week (95% CI 0.84-4.39), 4.57 for menstruation (95% CI 1.17-17.77), 6.62 for bedtime ≥11:00 PM (95% CI 1.74-25.10), 1.40 for BF<12% (95% CI 1.03-1.92), 2.19 for FFM<30 kg (95% IC 0.94-4.94), 2.37 for BMR<1100 kcal/day (95% CI 1.06-5.32), 1.90 for EEE≥700 kcal (95% CI 0.92-3.93) and 3.17 for EA<45 kcal/kg FFM/day (95% CI 0.84-6.59). Age, performance, sleep duration on weekdays and precompetitive stress were also predictors for a reduced sleep quality and/or abnormal daytime sleepiness.
CONCLUSIONS: Age, training regime, menstruation, individual preferences for bedtime, body composition and energy were important predictors of gymnasts’ precompetitive sleep with consequences upon their sleep duration, SQ and DS.

KEY WORDS: Sleep - Risk factors - Athletes - Gymnastics