DARIEN, IL - A new study found that chronic sleep restriction negatively affects athletic performance.
Results show that following sleep restriction, energy expenditure during submaximal exercise decreased 3.9 percent; maximal aerobic power decreased 2.9 percent and time to exhaustion decreased by 10.7 percent (37 seconds). Submaximal heart rate decreased after sleep restriction, as well as peak heart rate and Psychomotor Vigilance Test response speed.
"Our study is unique since we examined the relationship between sleep, physical performance, cognitive functioning, and physiology simultaneously," said lead investigator, Cheri Mah, MS, Clinical and Translational Research Fellow with the University of California, San Francisco Human Performance Center. "Future studies are needed to better understand the physiologic responses to sleep restriction, and conversely sleep extension, to understand the dose response of sleep interventions on performance and health."
The late-breaking research abstract will be presented Monday, June 13, in Denver at SLEEP 2016, the 30th Anniversary Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC (APSS).
The randomized crossover study involved 12 healthy elite male cyclists who restricted sleep to 4 hours for three days or extended sleep to 10 hours for two weeks. Cyclists completed a baseline week of habitual sleep and a 2-week washout period in between interventions. Outcome measures pre and post intervention included: a 20-minute submaximal test, a 1-minute incremental maximal exercise test, and a maximal time to exhaustion test on a bicycle ergometer and metabolic collection system as well as the Psychomotor Vigilance Test.
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The study was supported by National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, through UCSF-CTSI Grant Number TL1 TR000144. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.
Abstract Title: Sleep Restriction Slows Metabolism and Impairs Performance in Elite Cyclists
Abstract ID: LBA 3
Presentation Date: Monday, June 13
Presentation Type: Oral
Presentation Time: 1:15 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
SLEEP 2016 is a joint venture of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society. The SLEEP 2016 abstract supplement is available at http://sleepmeeting.org/abstract-supplements. For a copy of the abstract or to arrange an interview with the study author or an AASM spokesperson, please contact AASM Senior Communications Coordinator Amy Pyle at 630-737-9700, ext. 9366, or apyle@aasmnet.org.
About the American Academy of Sleep Medicine
Established in 1975, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) improves sleep health and promotes high quality patient centered care through advocacy, education, strategic research, and practice standards. The AASM has a combined membership of 11,000 accredited member sleep centers and individual members, including physicians, scientists and other health care professionals (http://www.aasmnet.org).