School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences, CQUniversity, Rockhampton, QLD, Australia.
Rural Clinical School, The University of Queensland, Rockhampton, QLD, Australia.
Sports Med. 2024 Mar;54(3):565-583. doi: 10.1007/s40279-023-01963-5. Epub 2023 Nov 21.
Understanding sleep patterns and behaviors of athletes is essential for developing targeted sleep-based interventions for implementation in practice. However, more than double the number of sleep studies have examined male athletes compared with female athletes, making the current understanding of sleep patterns, behaviors, and interventions among athletes disproportionately indicative of men. Consequently, this review demonstrates the need for more female-specific sleep data among athlete populations due to research inattention and sex-related differences. Specifically, this review identifies variations in sleep patterns and behaviors between male and female athletes, as well as physiological and lifestyle factors that potentially affect sleep patterns and behaviors across the lifespan, specifically in female athletes. In this regard, evidence suggests some female athletes experience longer sleep durations and better objective sleep quality, but similar or worse subjective sleep quality compared with male athletes. Additionally, scheduling training in the morning or throughout the day may benefit sleep in some female athletes. Considering sleep disorders, women may be at greater risk for insomnia and restless legs syndrome compared with men, which may be attributed to pregnancy, as well as a higher prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms, iron deficiency without anemia, and use of psychotropic medication among women. Finally, the menstrual cycle, menstrual disorders, oral contraceptive use, and the postpartum period have been shown to exert detrimental effects on sleep patterns and behaviors and should theoretically be considered when monitoring and managing sleep in female athletes.
了解运动员的睡眠模式和行为对于制定有针对性的基于睡眠的干预措施以在实践中实施至关重要。然而，与女运动员相比，检查男运动员睡眠的研究数量多出一倍以上，这使得目前对运动员的睡眠模式、行为和干预措施的理解不成比例地偏向于男性。因此，由于研究关注不足和与性别相关的差异，本综述表明需要在运动员人群中获得更多针对女性的特定睡眠数据。具体而言，本综述确定了男运动员和女运动员之间睡眠模式和行为的差异，以及可能影响整个生命周期（尤其是女运动员）睡眠模式和行为的生理和生活方式因素。在这方面，有证据表明，一些女运动员的睡眠时间更长，客观睡眠质量更好，但与男运动员相比，主观睡眠质量相似或更差。此外，在早上或全天安排训练可能有益于一些女运动员的睡眠。考虑到睡眠障碍，与男性相比，女性可能更容易患失眠症和不安腿综合征，这可能归因于怀孕，以及女性焦虑和抑郁症状、缺铁但无贫血和使用精神药物的患病率较高。最后，月经周期、月经紊乱、口服避孕药的使用和产后阶段已被证明对睡眠模式和行为产生不利影响，在监测和管理女运动员的睡眠时，理论上应考虑这些因素。
