Elite athletes are particularly susceptible to sleep inadequacies, characterised by habitual short sleep (<7 hours/night) and poor sleep quality (eg, sleep fragmentation). Athletic performance is reduced by a night or more without sleep, but the influence on performance of partial sleep restriction over 1–3 nights, a more real-world scenario, remains unclear. Studies investigating sleep in athletes often suffer from inadequate experimental control, a lack of females and questions concerning the validity of the chosen sleep assessment tools. Research only scratches the surface on how sleep influences athlete health. Studies in the wider population show that habitually sleeping <7 hours/night increases susceptibility to respiratory infection. Fortunately, much is known about the salient risk factors for sleep inadequacy in athletes, enabling targeted interventions. For example, athlete sleep is influenced by sport-specific factors (relating to training, travel and competition) and non-sport factors (eg, female gender, stress and anxiety). This expert consensus culminates with a sleep toolbox for practitioners (eg, covering sleep education and screening) to mitigate these risk factors and optimise athlete sleep. A one-size-fits-all approach to athlete sleep recommendations (eg, 7–9 hours/night) is unlikely ideal for health and performance. We recommend an individualised approach that should consider the athlete’s perceived sleep needs. Research is needed into the benefits of napping and sleep extension (eg, banking sleep).

Sleep is known to be an important component of recovery from training, yet little is known about the quality and quantity of sleep achieved by elite athletes. The aim of the present study was to quantify sleep in elite athletes using wristwatch actigraphy. Individual nights of sleep from a cohort of Olympic athletes (n = 47) from various sports were analysed and compared to non-athletic controls (n = 20). There were significant differences between athletes and controls in all measures apart from 'time asleep' (p = 0.27), suggesting poorer characteristics of sleep in the athlete group. There was a significant effect of gender on 'time awake' (mean difference: 12 minutes higher in males; 95% likely range: 3 to 21 minutes) and 'sleep efficiency' (mean difference: 2.4 lower in males; 95% likely range: 0.1 to 4.8). Athletes showed poorer markers of sleep quality than an age and sex matched non-athletic control group (Sleep efficiency: 80.6 ± 6.4% and 88.7 ± 3.6%, respectively. Fragmentation Index: 36.0 ± 12.4 and 29.8 ± 9.0, respectively) but remained within the range for healthy sleep. This descriptive study provides novel data for the purpose of characterising sleep in elite athletes.

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The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of compression garments on recovery following damaging exercise. A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted using studies that evaluated the efficacy of compression garments on measures of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), muscular strength, muscular power and creatine kinase (CK). Studies were extracted from a literature search of online databases. Data were extracted from 12 studies, where variables were measured at baseline and at 24 or 48 or 72 h postexercise. Analysis of pooled data indicated that the use of compression garments had a moderate effect in reducing the severity of DOMS (Hedges' g=0.403, 95% CI 0.236 to 0.569, p<0.001), muscle strength (Hedges' g=0.462, 95% CI 0.221 to 0.703, p<0.001), muscle power (Hedges' g=0.487, 95% CI 0.267 to 0.707, p<0.001) and CK (Hedges' g=0.439, 95% CI 0.171 to 0.706, p<0.001). These results indicate that compression garments are effective in enhancing recovery from muscle damage.