ArticleSports medicine - open2024
Routine, Routine, Routine: Sleep Regularity and its Association with Sleep Metrics in Professional Rugby Union Athletes.
Article in Sports medicine - open, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Delaying Early Morning Training Time in Swimmers: Effects on Sleep, Recovery and Performance-A Randomized Controlled Trial.Sports medicine - open · 2026Article
- The Sleep Regularity Index: A New Way to Evaluate Shiftwork Schedules.Journal of sleep research · 2026Article
- How Does the Sleep Regularity Questionnaire Relate to Wearable- and Diary-Derived Sleep Regularity?Journal of circadian rhythms · 2026Article
- Under the Covers: The Effect of a Temperature-Controlled Mattress Cover on Sleep and Perceptual Measures in Healthy Adults.Clocks & sleep · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMaintaining a consistent sleep and wake time is often reported as a key component of circadian rhythmicity and quality sleep. However, the impact of sleep onset and offset time variability on overall sleep outcomes are underreported in elite athlete populations. This study investigated the relationship between sleep onset and offset time variability using the sleep regularity index (SRI) and measures of sleep and well-being in professional rugby union athletes. Twenty-three professional male rugby union athletes (mean ± SD, age: 23 ± 3 y) underwent sleep monitoring via wrist actigraphy for three weeks during a pre-season phase of training and completed a daily wellness questionnaire. Median SRI was calculated and used to stratify the trainees into two quantile groups: >76.4 SRI (Regular, n = 11) and < 76.4 SRI (Irregular, n = 12).
resultsThe regular sleep group showed significantly longer total sleep duration (p = 0.02, d = 0.97) compared to the irregular group (7:42 ± 0:29 vs. 7:18 ± 0:20 h: min per night, respectively). Furthermore, while not statistically significant, the regular sleep group showed greater sleep efficiency and less wake episodes compared to irregular sleepers, as demonstrated by moderate effect sizes (d = 0.71 and 0.69, respectively).
conclusionsThe results from this study indicate that minimizing variability in sleep onset and offset time is beneficial for increasing sleep duration and may improve sleep efficiency during pre-season training in elite male rugby union athletes. This study provides evidence for the importance of including sleep-wake routines as a key component of sleep education interventions.
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