Objectives: This study sought to characterize the sleep of youth athletes and investigate relationships between sleep measures and cognitive function.
Method: Youth netball athletes (n = 19, age; 16.58 ± 1.26 years), wore an Actigraph wGT3X-BT and completed a daily sleep diary over 8 weeks. Cognitive function was measured every 2 weeks using Inquisit online software. Data were analyzed using generalized estimating equations to investigate the relationship between sleep and cognitive function.
Results: Youth athletes averaged <7 hr of sleep each night. Increases in total sleep time (β= -.13, CI [-.21, -.06]) sleep efficiency (β= -.49, CI [-.87, -.11]) and sleep quality rating (β= -12.23, CI [-21.26, -3.20]) resulted in a decrease in reaction time (p < .05). Increases in sleep onset latency (β= .04, CI [.02, .06]) and wake after sleep onset (β= .03, CI [.01, .05]) resulted in an increased error count for the digit symbol substitution task (p < .05).
Conclusion: Findings show that many youth athletes obtain less than the recommended amount of sleep. This is concerning given the importance of sleep for adolescent development. Inadequate sleep in youth athletes appears to negatively affect cognitive function. Future research should investigate the impact of inadequate sleep in youth athletes on athletic and academic performance.