Sleep Quality Effects Mood, Anxiety And Disablement In Division I National Collegiate Athletic Association Men's Soccer Players

Abstract

PURPOSE: To examine differences in mood, anxiety and physical health measurements between individuals who reported good sleep quality and individuals who reported poor sleep quality. METHODS: 110 male collegiate soccer players (mean±SD; age, 20±2y; body mass, 77.1±6.7kg; height, 179.9±6.3cm; VO2max, 54.0±4.7ml•kg-1•min-1) participated in this study. During the 2016 and 2017 NCAA soccer seasons, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Profile of Mood States (POMS), Sports Anxiety Scale (SAS), and Disablement in the Physically Active Scale (DPA) questionnaires were administered at various timepoints throughout the season. Groups were classified as those who reported good sleep quality (PSQI ≤ 4) and those who reported poor sleep quality (PSQI ≥ 5). Multi-level linear mixed models were used to assess differences between a fixed sleep quality factor. Individual and time point were added as random intercepts to account for variance associated with these factors. Statistical significance was set a priori p<0.05. Results are reported as mean difference (MD) and effect size (ES). RESULTS: 47.4% of PSQI results yielded scores ≥ 5. Individuals with good sleep quality had significantly lower levels of depression (MD=-2.68, ES=-0.39; p<0.001), tension (MD=-1.36, ES=-0.33; p<0.001), anger (MD=-2.09, ES=-0.33; p<0.001), fatigue (MD=-1.95, ES=-0.56; p<0.001), confusion (MD=-1.26, ES=-0.38; p<0.001) and total mood disturbance (MD=-9.11, ES=-0.39; p<0.001) than those who reported poor sleep quality. Individuals who reported good sleep quality had significantly less concentration disruption (MD=-0.45, ES=-0.25; p=0.01) than those who reported poor sleep quality. Individuals who reported good sleep quality scored significantly lower on the DPA (MD=-2.73, ES=-0.26; p=0.01), indicating improved physical function and well-being, compared to those who reported poor sleep quality. CONCLUSION: Poor sleep quality is prevalent (almost 50%) in this sample of collegiate soccer players. Athletes with poor sleep quality appear to have increased negative mental health outcomes and higher ratings on a disablement scale. Establishing student-athlete wellness monitoring programs may provide a tailored approach to improve the collegiate athlete experience.