Relationship Between Sleep Quantity And Quality And Performance Variables In Female Collegiate Soccer Players.

Abstract

Support for sport-specific benefits of sleep quantity and quality are limited, particularly in female collegiate athletes. PURPOSE: To evaluate the relationship between sleep quantity and quality and soccer-specific performance variables in an elite group of female soccer players. METHODS: Eight NCAA college-aged competitive Division I women’s soccer players (18-23 yrs) participated in the study. Global Positioning Systems (GPS), heart rate monitoring, and video analysis technologies were used during four matches along with 24-hour actigraphy; actigraphy was also used to measure sleep quantity and quality. The night prior to the match was used for data analyses of sleep quantity and quality. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was utilized to determine whether the vectors of the means in groups of variables were significant. Paired t-tests were used to analyze if differences in variables of performance existed after the “best” and “worst” nights of sleep for quantity and quality. Significance was set at p < 0.05. RESULTS: Mean sleep quantity and quality for the “best” (575.0 ± 38.4 minutes, 91.9 ± 2.6% of time in bed spent sleeping) and “worst” (416 ± 57.6 minutes, 76.2 ± 12.1% of time in bed spent sleeping) nights were significantly different. The MANOVAs were not significantly different for the physiological and physical variables for quantity and quality of sleep. No differences in performance variables were observed after “best” and “worst” quantity sleep matches. However, percent time spent exercising above 85% of the maximal heart rate (HRmax) was significantly lower after the “best” quality night of sleep (30.2 ± 13.5 vs. 47.9 ± 24.3%), even though overall heart rate exertion was higher after the “best” night of sleep (518.5 ± 193.1 vs. 387.6 ± 148.9 AU). High metabolic load distance (distance running at speeds greater than 19 km/hr) and distance accelerating or decelerating quickly (>2 m/s2) was lower (11.8 ± 3.6 vs. 16.3 ± 6.0 yds/min) and the number of decelerations was higher after the “best” quality night (69.7 ± 28.1 vs. 50.6 ± 25.9). CONCLUSION: While quantity of sleep did not influence performance related outcomes, quality of sleep may be important for reducing the time spent exercising > 85% HRmax and reducing incidence of high orthopedic stresses.