Sleep Difficulties in Swiss Elite Athletes

Abstract

For athletes, sleep is essential for recovery and performance. Yet, up to two-thirds of athletes report poor sleep quality. Comprehensive data across all sports disciplines on the underlying causes of sleep problems are missing. We reanalyzed a data set of N = 1004 Swiss top athletes across an extensive array of 88 sports to gain knowledge on the specific deficits in sleep health with respect to gender, sport classes, sport-related factors, and well-being. We found that 18% of athletes were affected by at least two out of five high-risk sleep factors: 9% of athletes slept less than 6 h per day, 30% were dissatisfied with their sleep, 17% showed problems falling asleep within 30 min, 18% of athletes reported difficulty maintaining sleep more than three times a week, and 6% of athletes used sleeping pills more than once a week. We found sleep health strongly linked to overall well-being and mental health (22% showed at least moderate symptoms of either depression or anxiety). Therefore, screening and treating sleep disorders might effectively improve mental health and general well-being as well as performance among athletes around the globe.

Keywords

• sleep
• mental health
• elite athlete
• prevalence
• sleep disorders