Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Introduction While there is considerable knowledge on the factors that affect the sleep of currently competing athletes, little is known about their sleep health after retirement from sport. Therefore, we aimed to compare the sleep behaviours of current and former athletes. Methods Forty-nine current and former athletes (26 women, mean age = 32.1 ± 1.7 years) completed two weeks of at-home sleep monitoring using ballistocardiography (Withings Sleep Analyzer), polysomnography (Dreem 3), actigraphy (GENEActiv), and subjective reports (sleep diary). Results Independent samples t-tests revealed differences in sleep timing and sleep quality between current and former athletes. Current athletes had observably shorter sleep duration objectively according to polysomnography (449 ± 42 min vs. 478 ± 48 min; p=.022, d = 0.66) and ballistocardiography (437 ± 47 min vs. 463 ± 47 min; p=.042, d = 0.55). However, mixed findings in relation to sleep quality between playing status were observed. Women slept for longer than men according to ballistocardiography (461 ± 44 min vs. 426 ± 47 min; p=.005, d = 0.78) and had greater variability in sleep duration according to actigraphy (60 ± 19 min vs. 72 ± 28 min; p=.037, d = 0.53). Notable differences in sleep timing were observed between sport types, with team sport athletes falling asleep and waking later than individual sport athletes on all objective measures (all p<.024). Discussion This is the first study to investigate the sleep behaviours of retired athletes, providing preliminary insight into how sleep behaviours may change following retirement from sport. These findings have implications for athletes and support staff regarding factors associated with insufficient, poor, and irregular sleep.
Source: SLEEP Advances
Authors: A Montero, R Adams, J Baranoff, M Drummond
Institution: The University of Adelaide
Language: English
Topic: Sleep and related disorders
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,054
OpenAlex ID: W4414779916
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