English Institute of Sport, The High Performance Centre, Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre, Buckinghamshire, UK.
Clinical Sleep Research Unit, School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, LE113TU, UK.
Eur J Sport Sci. 2021 Mar;21(3):321-330. doi: 10.1080/17461391.2020.1743765. Epub 2020 Mar 26.
Daytime napping is a common practice in high-performance athletes, and is widely assumed to reflect sleepiness arising from sports-related sleep debt. The possibility that athlete naps may also be indicative of 'sleepability', a capacity to nap on demand that is only weakly related to homeostatic sleep pressure, has not previously been tested. The present study compared daytime sleep latencies in high-performance athletes and non-athlete controls using a single nap opportunity model. Elite ( = 10), and sub-elite ( = 10) athletes, and non-athlete controls ( = 10) attended the laboratory for a first adaption trial, and a subsequent experimental trial. Subjective sleepiness was assessed using the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS) at 14:00, 14:30 and immediately prior to a 20-minute nap opportunity at 15:00. Sleep latencies were measured using polysomnography, and defined as the time from lights out to the first epoch of any stage of sleep (N1, N2, N3, REM). In unadjusted comparisons with non-athlete controls, elite athletes showed significantly shorter sleep latencies in both the adaptation ( < 0.05) and experimental trials ( < 0.05). These significant differences were maintained in models controlling for pre-trial KSS scores and pre-trial total sleep time (all < 0.05). Sleep latency scores for sub-elite athletes showed similar trends, but were more labile. These results are consistent with a conclusion that, among elite athletes, napping behaviour can reflect sleepability and may not necessarily result from nocturnal sleep disruption and daytime sleepiness.
日间小睡是高水平运动员的常见做法，人们普遍认为这反映了与运动相关的睡眠债务引起的困倦。运动员小睡也可能表明“可睡眠性”，即按需小睡的能力，这种能力与生理睡眠压力的相关性较弱，这一可能性以前尚未得到检验。本研究使用单次小睡机会模型比较了高水平运动员和非运动员对照组的日间睡眠潜伏期。精英运动员（ = 10）、次精英运动员（ = 10）和非运动员对照组（ = 10）参加了实验室的第一次适应试验和随后的实验试验。在 14:00、14:30 和 15:00 进行 20 分钟小睡机会前，使用 Karolinska 睡眠量表（KSS）评估主观困倦程度。使用多导睡眠图测量睡眠潜伏期，定义为从熄灯到睡眠任何阶段（N1、N2、N3、REM）的第一个时段的时间。与非运动员对照组的未调整比较中，精英运动员在适应（ < 0.05）和实验（ < 0.05）试验中均表现出明显更短的睡眠潜伏期。在控制试验前 KSS 评分和试验前总睡眠时间的模型中，这些显著差异仍然存在（所有 < 0.05）。次精英运动员的睡眠潜伏期得分表现出类似的趋势，但更不稳定。这些结果与以下结论一致，即在精英运动员中，小睡行为可以反映可睡眠性，不一定是由于夜间睡眠中断和日间困倦引起的。
