The relationship of sleep quality to recovery, training capacity and performance in elite athletes

The Centre for Sleep and Human Performance has been funded by Own the Podium to develop tools. strategies. and Interventions that will accurately evaluate the sleep quality of athletes. This partnership provides the Centre with a unique opportunity to have unrestricted access to a population of elite athletes who train and compete above the Intercollegiate level and whose motives for training and performance are not confounded by the external stressors professional athletes are exposed to. The purpose of this project is to characterize the epidemiology of sleep behaviors in elite athletes and determine the clinical validity of the Athlete Sleep Screening Questionnaire (ASSQ) in order to more accurately assess sleep quality in this unique population. This information will be used to improve the management of athlete health and wellbeing and will serve as the only true comprehensive long term evaluation of sleep behaviors in elite athletes in the world.

Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Penny Werthner

Student:

Amy Bender

Partner:

Centre for Sleep and Human Performance

Discipline:

Kinesiology

Sector:

Sports and recreation

University:

University of Calgary