Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed our lifestyle, sleep and physical activity habits. This study evaluated the prevalence of poor sleep quality, its disrupters, and the impact of the pandemic in collegiate athletes. We performed a cross-sectional study of collegiate athletes (N = 339, median age: 20 (IQR,19–21) years old, 48.5% female, 47% individual sports) who received a web-based questionnaire in April 2021. This survey included subject characteristics, chronotype, sleep disrupters, the changes due to the pandemic and sleep quality (Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index [PSQI]). A multivariate linear regression was performed to assess the relationship between sleep quality, gender, chronotype, sleep disrupters and the changes to training volume or sleep. Results showed a disrupted sleep quality in 63.7%. One in five students had a total sleep time under 6.5 h per night. Poor sleep quality was significantly correlated with nocturnal concerns related to the pandemic, evening chronotype, female gender, third year of study, caffeine consumption and lack of sleep routine (all p < 0.05). To conclude, poor sleep quality is common in collegiate athletes. Sleep disrupters remain prevalent in the lifestyle habits of this population and may have been exacerbated by changes related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Sleep hygiene should become a major aspect of sports education during the return to post-covid normality.
Highlights
Regarding the category of athletes, we found that athletes in individual sports complained more about breathing difficulties and temperature-related discomfort (Table S1); they had less night training, lower performance while traveling, and higher caffeine consumption than team sports athletes (Table S2)
Our second hypothesis regarding the sleep disrupters was partially confirmed. It appeared that impaired sleep quality was more pronounced in students with high year of study and frequent nocturnal concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic, but was unrelated to number of years of playing/competing, decreased training volume due to the pandemic, and concerns related to their sport
This study reported a high prevalence of poor sleep quality among collegiate athletes
Summary
Some authors have reported a decrease in sleep duration and efficiency and an increase in sleep onset latency in athletes compared with non-athlete subjects [1,2]. Sleep disrupters are considered as any factor that negatively impacts any aspect of sleep. These disrupters can be those seen in the general population or can be related to athletics. Previous studies have shown that the amount of sleep is largely influenced by training programs; both early morning workouts [3] and evening training alter sleep duration [4]. Competitions [5], travel [6], and psychological pressure have been shown to impair athletes’ sleep [7]. Individual sports athletes seem to obtain less sleep than athletes in team sports [8]
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