Association between sports injuries and sleep as measured by sleep actigraphy: a scoping review

The purpose of this scoping review was to determine if there is an association between sleep patterns, as measured by sleep actigraphy, and athletic injuries and performance.

Studies were included from Pubmed, Embase, and SPORTDiscus, if they measured sleep using actigraphy, evaluated sports injuries and athletic performance. Systematic reviews, narrative reviews, and those not using actigraphy or which focused on concussions instead of other sports injuries were excluded.

A total of 17 studies met inclusion criteria, examining athletes from 10 different sports. Of the seven studies evaluating the relationship between sleep metrics (sleep latency, efficiency, duration, wake after sleep onset) and injury occurrence, four studies (57%) found that decreased sleep correlated with increased injury occurrence in elite soccer, paralympic, and adolescent track and field athletes. Eight studies (47%) evaluated the relationship between sleep metrics and performance (reaction time, sports specific tasks, aerobic, and anaerobic capacity), finding that decreased sleep metrics correlated with decreased aerobic and anaerobic performance in rugby athletes, cyclists, triathletes, mixed martial arts (MMA), and Dutch elite youth athletes.

Findings of this study show that there is no consensus on the relationship between the amount or quality of sleep and rates of sports-related injuries in adult athletes. Poor sleep metrics (total sleep time/duration, latency, and efficiency) were correlated with a decrease in response time in cyclists and Dutch elite youth athletes. Worsened sleep metrics were also found to decrease aerobic performance in physically active males, MMA fighters, rugby players, triathletes, and cyclists. In summary, these findings suggest that there is an association between poor sleep and worsened athletic performance, but the evidence for injury risk is inconclusive.