BACKGROUND: The growth in popularity of women's soccer has led to an increased interest in the physical, physiological, and technical demands for these athletes. To meet these
demands, optimal preparation and recovery are necessary. One growing area of interest in athletic performance is the role that sleep may have in preparation and recovery. However, details
about sport-specific benefits of sleep are limited, particularly in female collegiate athletes. Athletes in the collegiate setting may suffer from lack of sleep due to the stresses of
academics and athletics. Moreover, measurement of sleep in elite college soccer players using actigraphy does not exist in the literature. PURPOSE: To evaluate the relationship between
sleep quantity and quality and soccer-specific performance variables in an elite group of female soccer players. METHODS: Eight NCAA college-aged competitive Division I women's soccer
players (18-23 yrs) participated in the study. Global Positioning Systems (GPS), heart rate monitoring and video analysis technologies were used during matches along with 24-hour
actigraphy through the season. Actigraphy was also used to measure sleep quantity and quality. Data were collected for all 26 matches but only four competitive matches were included in the
analysis as they met the following requirements: an evening match beginning at 1900 EST, time zones were not traveled across, goal differential was no more than two points (indicating a
high level of competition) and for players' data to be included they must have played at least 45 minutes of the 90-minute match. The night prior to the match was included for the data
analyses of sleep quantity and quality. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was utilized to determine whether the vectors of the means in groups of variables were significant.
Paired t-tests were used to analyze if differences in variables of performance existed after the "best" and "worst" nights of sleep for quantity and quality. Significance was set at
p[less than]0.05. RESULTS: Mean sleep quantity and quality for the "best" (575.0 ± 38.4 minutes, 91.9 ± 2.6% of time in bed spent sleeping) and "worst" (416 ± 57.6 minutes, 76.2 ± 12.1% of time
in bed spent sleeping) nights were significantly different. The MANOVAs were not significantly different for the physiological and physical variables for quantity and quality of sleep. No
differences in performance variables were observed after "best" and "worst" quantity sleep matches. However, differences existed between "best" and "worst" quality of sleep. Percent time
spent exercising above 85% of the maximal heart rate (HRmax) was significantly lower after the "best" night of sleep (30.2 ± 13.5 vs. 47.9 ± 24.3%). Heart rate exertion was higher after
the "best" night of sleep (518.5 ± 193.1 vs. 387.6 ± 148.9 AU) meaning the athletes were exercising at higher heart rates throughout the match without spending as much time in the
anaerobic zone ([greater than]85%HRmax). High metabolic load distance (distance running at speeds greater than 19 km/hr and distance accelerating or decelerating quickly ([greater than]2 m/s^2) was lower
after the "best" quality night (11.8 ± 3.6 vs. 16.3 ± 6.0 yds/min) and the number of decelerations was higher after the "best" quality night (69.7 ± 28.1 vs. 50.6 ± 25.9) indicating less
stress on the body. CONCLUSION: Quality of sleep is important for reducing the time spent exercising in the anaerobic zone ([greater than]85% HRmax). However the time spent exercising at high heart
rates below the ventilatory threshold may be increased after a night of better sleep quality, indicating an increased aerobic capacity during a competitive women's soccer match. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Nutrition, Food and Exercise Sciences in partial fulfillment of the Master of Science. / Fall Semester 2015. / October 21, 2015. / Performance, Sleep, Soccer / Includes bibliographical references. / Lynn Panton, Professor Directing Thesis; Mark Kasper, Committee Member; Michael Ormsbee, Committee Member; Gershon Tenenbaum, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_291254 |
| Contributors | Abegg, Marisa R. (authoraut), Panton, Lynn B. (professor directing thesis), Kasper, Mark J. (committee member), Ormsbee, Michael J. (committee member), Tenenbaum, Gershon (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Human Sciences (degree granting college), Department of Nutrition, Food, and Exercise Science (degree granting department) |
| Publisher | Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource (57 pages), computer, application/pdf |
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