Sleep Parameters on Days with and without Paralympic Powerlifting Training and Their Relationship with Training Load

Keywords

para-athletes - sports for persons with disabilities - sleep - training load and paralympic

Introduction: Since high-performance athletes often experience high physical and psychological demands, achieving optimal recovery in the training process is important in improving physical and cognitive performance. Among the aspects that optimize psychophysiological recovery and improve performance is sleep.

Aim: This study aims to compare the sleep parameters during the days with and without training of Paralympic powerlifting athletes, and to analyze the relationship between the training load and sleep of the same day.

Methods: Actigraphy was used to analyze the sleep parameters for 14 days (7 days with and without training) while Ratings of Perceived Exertion (RPE) analysis was used to assess training load. In addition, the Horne and Östberg chronotype questionnaire and the Epworth sleepiness scale were applied. The Wilcoxon test and t-test were used to compare sleep parameters between days with and without training. In addition, Spearman's correlation was used to analyze the relationship between sleep parameters and training load, considering a p < 0.05.

Results: Athletes show a morning and indifferent chronotype and low daytime sleepiness. Sleep onset latency (SOL; p = 0.01) was lower (average 5.3 minute faster), and total sleep time (TST; p < 0.01) and sleep efficiency (SE; p = 0.01) were higher (TST averaged 169 minute and SE 7% higher) on training days compared with non-training days. In addition, the TST of the night before the training days was positively correlated with the RPE of the following day (p = 0.03; r = 0.40), as well as the training volume was negatively correlated with the SE of the same day (p = 0.05; r = -0.26).

Conclusions: The main results of the present study demonstrate that athletes with physical disabilities slept more, took less time to sleep, and had greater SE on days with PP training, indicating positive effects of training on sleep parameters. Also, training volume was related to SE on the same day, indicating that a higher training volume is related to a lower SE. In addition, the TST of the night before training is related to the athlete's effort the next day, that is, an athlete who sleeps more can exert more effort. Therefore, it is important to assess and monitor sleep and training load to consider in PP training.

No conflict of interest has been declared by the author(s).

Publication History

Article published online:
15 June 2023