Loughborough University
Browse
tolfrey_fspor-03-643233.pdf (1.29 MB)

Sleep characteristics of highly trained wheelchair rugby athletes with and without a cervical spinal cord injury during the competitive season

Download (1.29 MB)
journal contribution
posted on 2021-03-19, 14:14 authored by Conor Murphy, Iuliana HartescuIuliana Hartescu, Ifan E. Roberts, Christof LeichtChristof Leicht, Vicky Goosey-TolfreyVicky Goosey-Tolfrey
Sleep behaviours although significantly relevant to exercise recovery are poorly characterised in Para sport athletes. Therefore, the main aims were to describe sleep quality and quantity of highly trained wheelchair rugby (WR) athletes during the competitive season, and to investigate whether impairment type or attending a training camp influenced sleep outcomes. Eighteen male WR athletes (mean ± SD; age: 30 ± 5 yrs) with cervical spinal cord injuries (n = 11) [CSCI] and without (n = 7) [NON SCI] wore an activity monitor over a 16-day period to objectively quantify sleep parameters, while the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and nightly sleep diary entries were used as a subjective means. A sub-sample of the athletes (n = 11) had their sleep monitored during a 3-night training camp to assess the impact of environmental change on sleep. Furthermore, as an additional exploratory measure core temperature was measured for a single night-time period using ingestible telemetry capsules. The athletes had total sleep times and sleep efficiency scores of 7.06 (1.30) h.min (median [interquartile range]) and 81 (9) %, respectively. Sleep onset latency and wake after sleep onset were 13 (24) min and 1.11 (0.45) h.min, respectively. No significant differences were found in objective sleep variables between the impairment groups despite the CSCI group being significantly more likely to report a poorer night’s sleep (p = 0.04). Furthermore, attending the training camp caused a significant reduction in total sleep time for both groups (Δ 38 ± 33 min; [95% CI: 18 – 60 min] p < 0.01). This study highlights suboptimal sleep characteristics that are present in both CSCI and NON SCI wheelchair athletes, as defined by the National Sleep Foundation. Although objective scores did not differ between groups, athletes with a CSCI rated their sleep worse. Furthermore, the disruption of sleep during training camp reflects an additional risk factor that is important to recognise for those working with wheelchair athletes.

Funding

Peter Harrison Centre for Disability Sport and Loughborough University

History

School

  • Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences

Published in

Frontiers in Sports and Active Living

Volume

3

Publisher

Frontiers Media

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Rights holder

© The authors

Publisher statement

This is an Open Access Article. It is published by Frontiers Media under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported Licence (CC BY). Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Acceptance date

2021-03-17

Publication date

2021-04-29

Copyright date

2021

eISSN

2624-9367

Language

  • en

Depositor

Prof Vicky Tolfrey. Deposit date: 17 March 2021

Article number

643233

Usage metrics

    Loughborough Publications

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Licence

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC