0791 SLEEP HEALTH OF DIVISION 1 COLLEGIATE VARSITY ATHLETES AND IMPACT OF TRAVEL FOR COMPETITION

Abstract

Introduction: Sleep is increasingly recognized to be important for optimal athletic performance and for injury prevention and recovery. Little is known about the sleep health of collegiate athletes and we therefore conducted two sleep surveys as well as objective sleep assessments during home and away games. Method(s): Sixty-seven (sample 1) and eighty-two (sample 2) moderate altitude adapted collegiate athletes from a cross-section of varsity sports (men's and women's basketball, cross country, lacrosse, football, men's and women's golf, skiing, soccer, tennis, track and field, and volleyball) completed the sleep survey. Objective sleep of fifteen women's volleyball players was also monitored (Actiwatch Spectrum, Philips) for one week during a home game series at 1655m with matches scheduled at 8PM Friday and 12PM Sunday local time, and one week during an away game at 29m that required westward travel across one time zone and an 8PM Friday local time match. Result(s): Athletes in both survey samples reported significant sleep problems and daytime symptoms: 56-59% reported poor sleep quality (PSQI>5); 25-42% reported excessive daytime sleepiness (ESS>= 10); 54-61% reported obtaining the sleep they needed to feel at their best less than half the time or never; 54-65% reported sleep problems while traveling. Objective sleep assessments during the travel week showed sleep of the women's volleyball team was longest on the day of the away competition (8.9 +/- 0.2h), intermediate at home on days prior to travel (7.3 +/- 0.2h), and shortest on the travel day home (5.7 +/- 0.4h) (all day comparisons p<0.05). Total sleep time did not significantly differ during the home game week, but a significant reduction in sleep efficiency from baseline (90.5 +/- 0.6%) was observed the day of the home match Friday night (87.7 +/- 1.3%) and the Saturday night (86.3 +/- 3.0%) before the Sunday afternoon match (p<0.05). Conclusion(s): Collegiate varsity athletes show clinically relevant sleep problems and daytime consequences, and evidence of sleep disturbance while traveling for competition. Additional research is necessary to determine implications of our findings for collegiate athlete health and to determine if improving sleep can enhance athletic and academic performance or influence injury prevention/recovery.