A study on elite athletes: Orthorexia nervosa tendency is a risk factor for sleep quality

Elite athletes adhere to strict daily routines, particularly concerning their nutritional habits. However, these practices can occasionally lead to a pathological fixation on healthy eating known as orthorexia nervosa which may adversely affect sleep quality. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between orthorexia nervosa tendencies and sleep quality in elite athletes, as well as to investigate potential differences in orthorexia nervosa tendencies and sleep patterns between athletes engaged in individual versus team sports.

The present study explores how orthorexia nervosa tendency affects sleep quality in 249 elite athletes (115 women: aged 19.92 ± 2.48 years, sporting tenure: 8.16 ± 3.96 years, and 134 men: aged 20.69 ± 2.72 years, sporting tenure: 7.85 ± 3.59 years). The orthorexia nervosa tendency was evaluated using the ORTO-11 scale, while their sleep quality using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index.

The results of the present study indicate that orthorexia nervosa negatively affected sleep quality (rho = -0.173, p = 0.006). Additionally, no differences in the orthorexia nervosa tendency was observed between individual and group athletes (p = 0.287); however, individual athletes presented poorer sleep quality (p = 0.287).

These results indicate that the elite athletes who present higher orthorexia nervosa tendency had a higher risk of having poorer sleep quality.