INTRODUCTION: To support performance, recovery and physical and mental health athletes are advised to achieve approximately eight hours of sleep. During the competitive season it is important to understand how sleep varies to inform sleep and recovery recommendations. In professional female soccer players there is limited sleep data available. In addition, no studies have compared objective and subjective measures of sleep duration within a comprehensive competitive soccer schedule. This information is important as objective measures are expensive and often cost prohibitive to teams. Therefore, the aims of this study were to 1) determine the impact of competitive schedule on sleep duration, 2) compare objective and subjective measures of sleep duration in professional female soccer players. METHODS: Sleep was measured over 44 ± 10 d in seven professional female soccer players (age: 29 ± 5 y) during a competitive season (Women`s Super League, England). Sleep duration (h:min) was measured objectively using wrist-worn actigraphy (Biostrap EVO, USA) and subjectively by a daily questionnaire completed the following morning. Only night time sleeping was included in the data set. Competitive schedule was categorised as: Match Day (MD), Training Day (TD; pitch based, soccer skills, gym based), Recovery Day (RD; non-soccer specific training), and Off Day (OD). Data are shown as mean ± SD; a statistical level of significance was set at P<0.05. RESULTS: Objectively, players slept longer on TD (8:49 ± 1:21 h:min) compared to RD (7:59 ± 1:33 h:min, P<0.05). No differences between other days were found. Objective measures of sleep duration were higher (8:25 ± 0:36 h:min) compared to subjective measures (8:03 ± 0:28 h:min, P<0.01). Five out of the seven players consistently under-estimated sleep duration. Objective sleep duration was greater than subjective sleep duration on TD and OD (0:36 and 0:35 h:min respectively, P<0.01), with no differences observed on MD or RD (P>0.05). Subjectively TD and RD had highest sleep duration (TD: 8:13 ± 1:03 and RD 8:14 ± 0:56 h:min), MD had lowest (7:29 ± 1:34 h:min, P<0.01), with no differences observed on OD (7:54 ± 0:52 h:min, P>0.05). CONCLUSION: The results of the present study show that competitive schedule does have an impact on sleep duration in professional female soccer players, however results varied between objective and subjective sleep measures. Further investigation is warranted to fully understand the depth of the interaction between competitive schedule and sleep in this cohort. Furthermore, this study shows that professional female soccer players underestimate sleep duration. This underestimation is limited at approximately 4% (0:22 h:min). As such, subjective measures may be appropriate for use on a longitudinal basis, especially when objective measures are not accessible or affordable. However, to determine a full sleep profile over a competitive schedule objective measures are advisable.
© Copyright 2022 27th Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science (ECSS), Sevilla, 30. Aug - 2. Sep 2022. Julkaistu Tekijä Faculty of Sport Science - Universidad Pablo de Olavide. Kaikki oikeudet pidätetään. / Kääntänyt https://www.DeepL.com/Translator