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Sleep patterns and alertness in an elite super rugby team during a game week
Dunican, Ian C. Higgin, Charles C. Murray, Kevin Jones, Maddison J. Dawson, Brian Caldwell, John A. Halson, Shona L. Eastwood, Peter R.
Dunican, Ian C.
Higgin, Charles C.
Murray, Kevin
Jones, Maddison J.
Dawson, Brian
Caldwell, John A.
Halson, Shona L.
Eastwood, Peter R.
Author
Dunican, Ian C.
Higgin, Charles C.
Murray, Kevin
Jones, Maddison J.
Dawson, Brian
Caldwell, John A.
Halson, Shona L.
Eastwood, Peter R.
Higgin, Charles C.
Murray, Kevin
Jones, Maddison J.
Dawson, Brian
Caldwell, John A.
Halson, Shona L.
Eastwood, Peter R.
Abstract
Sleep is a vital component of preparation, performance and recovery for a Super Rugby game. The purpose of this study was to quantify sleep behaviours and alertness of professional rugby union players during training and a game. Thirty-six rugby union players from a Super Rugby team wore a wrist-activity device (Readiband™) to measure sleep for 3 days before, 3 days after and on the night of an evening game. Players were separated into those selected to play the game (n = 23) and those who were not (n = 13). Alertness was assessed for all training and game times using bio-mathematical modelling. Alertness measures ≤90% were considered to reflect impaired reaction time. Those selected to play in the game progressively increased sleep duration over the nights prior to the game (by 92 min p ≤ 0.05) by delaying wake time. Players went to bed later after the game (02:20 ± 114 min vs 22:57 ± 60 min; p ≤ 0.001) which resulted in decreased sleep duration on game night compared to pre-game nights (296 ± 179 min vs 459 ± 78 min; p ≤ 0.05). Four players did not achieve any sleep on game night. Sleep duration appeared to be truncated by early morning training sessions (before 08:00) on the second and third mornings after the game. Alertness was >90% for all training and game times for all players. In conclusion, in the days leading into a Super Rugby game, players delay morning time at wake and consequently increase sleep duration with post-game sleep reduced in some.
Keywords
alertness, recovery, actigraphy, athletes
Date
2019
Type
Journal article
Journal
Journal of Human Kinetics
Book
Volume
67
Issue
1
Page Range
111-121
Article Number
ACU Department
School of Behavioural and Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
License
All rights reserved
File Access
Controlled