ReviewNature and science of sleep2018
From pillow to podium: a review on understanding sleep for elite athletes.
Review in Nature and science of sleep, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 77 citations in OpenAlex.
- The effect of daytime napping on the athletic performance of team ball sports athletes: systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Pooled it
- Is There Evidence for the Development of Sex-Specific Guidelines for Ultramarathon Coaches and Athletes? A Systematic Review.Sports medicine - open · 2023Pooled it
- Obstructive Sleep Apnea: A Potential Sleeping Giant of Sport Performance and Health?Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Article
- Morning Appointment Time Rather Than Training Load Affects Sleep During a Training Camp in Young Elite Rugby Union Players.European journal of sport science · 2025Article
- Teamwork Makes the Dream Work: Who Should Be Managing Athletes on Matters Related to Sleep?Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2025Article
- The Sleep-Wake Cycle Pattern of a Blind Trail Ultramarathon Runner and His Guide: The World's First Case.Clocks & sleep · 2025Article
- The influence of partial sleep restriction on repeated sprint ability and reaction time in university athletes.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Article
- The effect of electro-magnetic-energy-regulation therapy on subjective sleep among elite players in Norwegian women's football.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2024Article
- Sleep Assessment in Competitive Athletes: Development and Validation of French Versions of the Athens Insomnia Scale and the Athlete Sleep Behavior Questionnaire.Sleep science (Sao Paulo, Brazil) · 2023Article
- Automatic-Scoring Actigraph Compares Favourably to a Manually-Scored Actigraph for Sleep Measurement in Healthy Adults.Sleep science (Sao Paulo, Brazil) · 2023Article
- Pyjamas, Polysomnography and Professional Athletes: The Role of Sleep Tracking Technology in Sport.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Psychological changes in athletes infected with Omicron after return to training: fatigue, sleep, and mood.PeerJ · 2023Article
- Mental health problems in elite sport: the difference in the distribution of mental distress and mental disorders among a sample of Norwegian elite athletes.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2023Article
- A literature review of sleep problems and neurodevelopment disorders.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Review
- Reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the Athens insomnia scale for non-clinical application in Chinese athletes.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- How Sleep Affects Recovery and Performance in Basketball: A Systematic Review.Brain sciences · 2022Review
- Association between Self-Reported Prior Night's Sleep and Single-Task Gait in Healthy, Young Adults: A Study Using Machine Learning.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Running on Empty: Self-Reported Sleep/Wake Behaviour during Ultra-Marathon Events Exceeding 100 Miles.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2022Article
- The Athlete's Paradox: Adaptable Depression.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Preparing for snow-sport events at the Paralympic Games in Beijing in 2022: recommendations and remaining questions.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Sleep is considered vital to human health and well-being, and is critical to physiological and cognitive functioning. Elite athletes experience high training and competition demands, and are often exposed to various factors, situations, and environments that can cause sleep impairments. Previous research has shown that athletes commonly experience sleep loss in the lead up to and following competition, which could have significant impacts on their preparation, performance, and recovery. In particular, the results from previous research show significant reductions in total sleep time (~1:40 h:min) and significant increases in sleep latency (~45 minutes) following evening competition. Napping is common in both the training and competition setting in athletes; however, research on the effect of napping on physiology and performance is limited. In contrast, research on strategies and interventions to improve sleep are increasing in the athletic population, with sleep hygiene research resulting in significant improvements in key sleep indices. This review investigates the physiological importance of sleep in athletes, current tools to monitor athletes' sleep, the role of sleep for cognitive functioning and athletic performance, the prevalence of sleep disturbances and the potential mechanisms causing sleep disturbances, the role of napping, and different intervention strategies to improve sleep.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.