ELITE SPORTS

Fatigue Management in Sports

Sleep is a critical brain function. Failure to obtain adequate sleep quality and quantity results in poor reaction time, poor decision making, lower ability to learn and retain information, and lower motivation to perform. All of which result in poor athletic performance.

Athletes often do not obtain sufficient sleep for three critical reasons:

  1. The decisions the athletes make away from the team. This is often referred to as athletes’ “lifestyle” and includes sleep hygiene.
  2. The decisions the teams and leagues make with regards to the timing of games, practices, travel, meetings and other activities.
  3. The athletes’ biology. Their individual sleep needs including chronotype and age as well as sleep disorders, mental disorders, organic diseases and any medications they may be taking.

An Effective Fatigue Management Program 

An effective fatigue management program must address all three causes of poor sleep:

STEP 1

A baseline must be established to determine the athlete’s overall sleep health. This involves a holistic program to determine the athlete’s overall health and then direct proper treatment aimed at any biological barriers to adequate sleep.

STEP 2

Athlete education on sleep hygiene and how his or her lifestyle choices can affect his or her performance is important because sleep medicine is a relatively new science. Education coupled with feedback from medical-grade actigraphs assists in reinforcing proper lifestyle choices.

STEP 3

Teams and leagues make decisions concerning the timing of games, practices, travel, meetings and other activities. These decisions may not provide adequate sleep opportunities for athletes. We analyze schedules to determine if adequate opportunities exist and if they do not, make recommendations to create them.