For athletes, inadequate sleep leads to decreased performance

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-11/wkh-fya110920.php

 

News Release 9-Nov-2020
Wolters Kluwer Health

 

 Most young athletes don't get enough sleep - and that may significantly affect their sports performance, according to a paper in the November issue of Current Sports Medicine Reports, official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

"There's growing evidence to suggest that youth athletes don't get required amount of sleep, and that this negatively affects their performance," comments Mark F. Riederer, MD, of C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, author of the new review. He believes that the trend toward more-intensive training might contribute to a lack of adequate sleep in in young athletes.


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Most studies find that young athletes get less sleep than non-athletes; they may sleep longer on the weekends, trying to make up their "sleep debt." The evidence suggests that young female athletes sleep less than their male counterparts. However, elite-level teen athletes of both sexes seem to get more sleep - possibly related to higher sleep need due to higher training loads.

Although studies vary, the evidence suggests that getting less-than-recommended sleep leads to decreased performance on the playing field. Some papers report that inadequate sleep has significant effects on reaction time, strength, speed, cognitive learning, and decision-making.

"[S]tudies consistently demonstrate that lack of recommended sleep results in poor sense of well-being, increased perceived training load, and poor placement in competitions," Dr. Riederer writes. Sleep deficits may also place young athletes at risk for injury and illness.

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