Effects of 25-Min Nap Opportunity during Ramadan Observance on the 5-m Shuttle Run Performance and the Perception of Fatigue in Physically Active Men.

Hsen Hsouna,Khaled Trabelsi,Nizar Souissi,Khadijah Irandoust,Omar Boukhris,Achraf Ammar,Sergio Garbarino,Raouf Abdessalem,Morteza Taheri,Nicola Luigi Bragazzi,Hamdi Chtourou,Roy Jesse Shephard

doi:10.3390/ijerph17093135

Abstract

We aimed to investigate the effects of a 25-min nap opportunity on physical performance during the 5-m shuttle run test (5mSRT), feelings (i.e., evaluated by the feeling scale), attention (i.e., evaluated by the digit cancellation test) and the perception of fatigue (i.e., recorded by the rating of perceived exertion (RPE)) during Ramadan observance. Twelve physically active men (age: 21.1 ± 3.2 yrs, height: 1.76 ± 0.05 m, body-mass: 71.2 ± 9.3 kg) voluntarily participated in five test sessions: 15 days before Ramadan (BR), the first 10 days of Ramadan (FR), the last 10 days of Ramadan (ER), 10 days after Ramadan (10AR) and 20 days after Ramadan (20AR). During each test session, participants performed the digit cancellation test, a 5-min standard warm-up, the 5mSRT (6 × 30-s with 35-s intervals-between) and the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) after no-nap (N0) and 25-min nap opportunity (N25) conditions. Participants also completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) during each period. The total distance covered during the 5mSRT did not differ significantly before, during or after Ramadan, but was significantly greater after N25 compared to N0 at 10AR (687.5 ± 23.0 m vs. 725.6 ± 41.1 m; p = 0.018) and 20AR (698.3 ± 19.8 m vs. 742.6 ± 58.3 m; p = 0.003). The attention scores were higher after N25 in comparison with N0 at 10AR (p = 0.04) and 20AR (p = 0.02). RPE scores were not significantly different between N25 and N0 conditions. Feelings scores were higher after N25 compared to N0 during both FR (p = 0.007) and 20AR (p = 0.04). A significant deterioration of sleep quality was recorded during Ramadan (i.e., PSQI scores were significantly higher during and after compared to BR (p < 0.0005)). A 25-min nap opportunity was beneficial for physical and cognitive performance after Ramadan observance; however, any effect is insufficient to show significant beneficial impacts during Ramadan.

Highlights

The optimization of the recovery process to reach the peak performance is a primary goal for athletes, coaches and scientists [1]
Some studies have not reported any significant changes in physical fitness level [9,10,11] or cognitive function [12] during Ramadan, a decrement in physical performance has been reported in both athletes [13,14,15,16] and physically active men [17,18]
During N25, Bonferroni post-hoc testing revealed a significant decrease of Total distance (TD) during the 5-m shuttle run test (5mSRT) at first days of Ramadan (FR) compared to before Ramadan (BR) (717.9 ± 52.5 m vs. 694.8 ± 10.4 m; p = 0.008) and of TD during the 5mSRT at FR compared to BR (717.9 ± 52.5 m vs. 694.8 ± 10.4 m; p = 0.008) and 20 days after Ramadan (20AR)

Summary

Introduction

The optimization of the recovery process to reach the peak performance is a primary goal for athletes, coaches and scientists [1]. During the 29 or 30 days of Ramadan observance, healthy adult pubescent Muslims must abstain from eating, drinking and sexual relations from sunrise to sunset [6]. This month is characterized by perturbations on sleep patterns [3,4,5] in addition to disturbances of food and fluid intake [5,7,8]. Some studies have not reported any significant changes in physical fitness level [9,10,11] or cognitive function [12] during Ramadan, a decrement in physical performance has been reported in both athletes [13,14,15,16] and physically active men [17,18]. Decreases in cognitive performance have been reported in some groups of physically active young men [19] and athletes [20]

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Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion