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

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

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 i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of sports sciences Vol. 35; no. 7; pp. 704 - 710
Main Authors: Tuomilehto, Henri, Vuorinen, Ville-Pekka, Penttilä, Elina, Kivimäki, Marko, Vuorenmaa, Markus, Venojärvi, Mika, Airaksinen, Olavi, Pihlajamäki, Jussi
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: England Routledge 03-04-2017
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects:
Adult
Athletes
Athletic Performance
Attitude
Counseling
examination
Follow-Up Studies
Health Education
Health Promotion
Hockey
Humans
Male
Polysomnography
Prevalence
problems
Sleep
Sleep disorders
Sleep Wake Disorders - epidemiology
Sleep Wake Disorders - therapy
Sports medicine
Surveys and Questionnaires
treatment
Young Adult
treatment
athletes
Sleep
examination
problems
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Summary: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.
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ISSN:0264-0414
1466-447X
DOI:10.1080/02640414.2016.1184300