Over the past few years, the effects of a poor sleep in varsity level, collegiate student-athletes has been attributed to a broad range of physiologic, social, and environmental pressures, including long hours, additional stress, travel burden, and other sources. Studies have shown that chronic sleep deprivation and inadequate sleep are strongly associated with the development of cardiometabolic disease risk factors obesity, depression, anxiety disorders, alcohol use, other substance use, poorer academic performance, and reduced mental well-being, in addition to poorer athletic performance.
In data from student-athletes in the American College Health Association from 2011-2014, when asked about access to health-related information, sleep was one of the most infrequently-provided domains of information. Yet, more than half of the student-athletes reported that they wanted more information about sleep, more than nearly all other categories of information. In addition, sleep problems were common, such that 19.8% reported that sleep difficulties had been "traumatic or very difficult," 21.8% reported "extreme difficulty" falling asleep ≥3 nights/week, and 57.0% indicated that they got enough sleep to feel rested on ≤3 nights/week (20.4% ≤1 day/week). Regarding daytime consequences, 60.9% reported extreme tiredness ≥3 days/week and 17.7% reported that sleep difficulties interfered with academics. Additional data from this cohort shows that poor sleep was also associated with lower academic performance, worse mental health, increased substance use, and increased risky behaviors while drinking.
For this reason, we developed Project REST (Recovery Enhancement and Sleep Training) to be a program that can improve sleep among student athletes, despite the many situational constraints. The original Project REST study pilot study included educational, tracking, support, and motivational enhancement. This combination produced strong results, including 77 minutes increased sleep duration, 10% increased sleep efficiency, 55% improvement in sleep latency, 40% improvement in insomnia symptoms, 80% reduction in drowsy driving, and 21% improved overall energy level.
The University of Arizona has many men and women competing in Division 1 athletics in the public eye, but there are many other student athletes that also participate in sport. According to data collected from UA, there are 35 athletics organizations-- clubs that in most cases are not recognized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (for example, rugby, lacrosse, etc.). With more than 1,000 UA student athletes competing regionally, nationally, and occasionally in cities around the world, the likelihood of similar poor sleep habits and diminished sleep quality are high. Using the platform of Project REST, the goal of this new study, Project REST: Club Sports, will be to inform, educate, and monitor a small pool of club sports student athletes and implementing the data collected into a program that can be dispersed to a larger audience.
