Sleep, anxiety and electronic device use by athletes in the training and competition environments

G. Romyn, Elisa Robey, James A. Dimmock, S.L. Halson, Peter Peeling

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    56 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    © 2015 European College of Sport Science. This study subjectively assessed sleep quality and quantity, state anxiety and electronic device use during a 7-day training week (TRAIN) and a 7-day competitive tournament (COMP). Eight state-level netball players used wrist-watch actigraphy to provide indirect sleep measures of bedtime, wake time, sleep duration, sleep onset latency, sleep efficiency, wake after sleep onset and fragmentation index. State anxiety was reported using the anxiety sub-scale in the Profile of Mood States-Adolescents. Before bed duration of electronic device use and the estimated time to sleep after finishing electronic device use was also recorded. Significant main effects showed that sleep efficiency (p = 0.03) was greater in COMP as compared to TRAIN. Furthermore, the bedtime and wake time were earlier (p = 0.01) during COMP. No further differences existed between conditions (p > 0.05). However, strong negative associations were seen between state anxiety and the sleep quality rating. Here, sleep efficiency was likely greater in COMP due to the homeostatic need for recovery sleep, resulting from the change in environment from training to competition. Furthermore, an increased anxiety before bed seems to influence sleep quality and should be considered in athletes portraying poor sleep habits.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)301-308
    Number of pages8
    JournalEuropean Journal of Sport Science
    Volume16
    Issue number3
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2 Apr 2016

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