Effects of sports training on sleep characteristics of Asian adolescent athletes |
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Authors: | Haresh T Suppiah Chee Yong Low |
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Institution: | 1. Physical Education and Sports Science, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Nanyang Walk, Singapore 637616, Singapore;2. Singapore Sports School, 1 Champions Way, Singapore 7379913, Singapore |
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Abstract: | Adolescents are predisposed to poorer quality of sleep and experience shortened sleep durations, with these trends being more pronounced amongst Asians. Even though sleep is crucial for athletic recovery, there is a dearth of the literature on the sleep patterns of Asian adolescent athletes. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of different intensities of sports training on sleep patterns in adolescent athletes, and to describe novel sleep data and daytime sleepiness amongst Asian adolescents who were high-level athletes. Those athletes (age 14.8 ± 0.9 years) in higher-intensity sports showed significantly more deep sleep, less light sleep and waketime after sleep onset. Actigraphically determined bedtimes and waketimes were significantly delayed on weekends, when mean total sleep time was also significantly longer. There was a large effect for an increased daytime sleepiness in high-intensity sport athletes. These findings highlight the phenomenon of social jet lag in Asian adolescent student-athletes. |
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Keywords: | adolescent athlete sleep daytime sleepiness exercise intensity |
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