The Sleep of Elite Australian Rules Footballers During Preseason: A Comparison of Men and Women.

PURPOSE: Australian football has elite men's (Australian Football League; AFL) and women's (Australian Football League Women's; AFLW) competitions. This study compared AFL and AFLW players' sleep and characterized players' sleep in the context of current sleep recommendations. METHODS: A total of 70 players (36 AFL, 34 AFLW) had their sleep monitored via actigraphy over a 10-day preseason period. Sleep outcomes and their intraindividual variation, were compared between AFL and AFLW players using linear mixed models. Proportions of players sleeping ≥7 and ≥8 hours per night, and achieving ≥85% sleep efficiency, were compared using chi-square analyses. RESULTS: Compared with AFL players, AFLW players slept less (7.9 [0.5] vs 7.1 [0.6] h, P = .000), had lower sleep efficiency (89.5% [2.8%] vs 84.0% [4.4%], P = .000), and greater intraindividual variation in sleep efficiency (3.1% [0.9%] vs 5.1% [2.1%], P = .000). A total of 47% of AFLW versus 3% of AFL players averaged <7 hours sleep (χ2 = 18.6, P = .000). A total of 88% of AFLW versus 50% of AFL players averaged <8 hours sleep (χ2 = 11.9, P = .001). A total of 53% of AFLW versus 14% of AFL players averaged <85% sleep efficiency (χ2 = 12.1, P = .001). CONCLUSIONS: AFLW players slept less and had poorer sleep quality than AFL players. Many AFLW players do not meet current sleep duration or sleep quality recommendations. Research should test strategies to improve sleep among Australian rules footballers, particularly among elite women.

Nutrient intake, meal timing and sleep in elite male Australian football players.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the relationship between dietary intake, meal timing and sleep in elite male Australian football players. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. METHODS: Sleep and dietary intake were assessed in 36 elite male Australian Football League (AFL) players for 10 consecutive days in pre-season. Sleep was examined using wrist activity monitors and sleep diaries. Dietary intake was analysed using the smartphone application MealLogger and FoodWorks. Generalised linear mixed models examined the associations between diet [total daily and evening (>6pm) energy, protein, carbohydrate, sugar and fat intake] and sleep [total sleep time (TST), sleep efficiency (SE), wake after sleep onset (WASO) and sleep onset latency (SOL)]. RESULTS: Total daily energy intake (MJ) was associated with a longer WASO [ß=3, 95%CI: 0.2-5; p=0.03] and SOL [ß=5, 95%CI: 1-9; p=0.01]. Total daily protein intake (gkg-1) was associated with longer WASO [ß=4, 95%CI: 0.8-7; p=0.01] and reduced SE [ß=-0.7 CI: -1.3 to -0.2; p=0.006], while evening protein intake (gkg-1) was associated with shortened SOL [ß=-2, 95%CI: -4 to -0.4), p=0.02]. Evening sugar intake (gkg-1) was associated with shorter TST [ß=-5, 95%CI: -10 to -0.6; p=0.03] and WASO [ß=-1, 95%CI: -2 to -0.3; p=0.005]. A longer period between the evening meal consumption and bedtime was associated with a shorter TST [ß=-8, 95%CI: -16 to -0.3; p=0.04]. CONCLUSIONS: Evening dietary factors, including sugar and protein intake, had the greatest association with sleep in elite male AFL players. Future research manipulating these dietary variables to determine cause and effect relationships, could guide dietary recommendations to improve sleep in athletes.