All you need is sleep: Can basic psychological need satisfaction improve athletes' sleep quality?

Area of Science:

• Sports Science
• Psychology

Background:

• Athletes frequently experience poor sleep quality, impacting performance and recovery.
• Behavioral strategies are commonly used to improve athlete sleep.
• Basic Psychological Need Theory (BPNT) suggests autonomy, competence, and relatedness satisfaction may enhance sleep quality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between basic psychological need satisfaction and sleep quality in competitive athletes.
• To explore how general and sleep-specific need satisfaction influence objective and subjective sleep parameters.

Main Methods:

• 66 competitive athletes completed baseline questionnaires on sleep quality and need satisfaction.
• 48 athletes participated in a 14-night sleep tracking study using actigraphy.
• Objective sleep parameters (sleep onset latency, duration, efficiency) and subjective sleep quality/deficit were recorded.

Main Results:

• Higher global need satisfaction (general and sleep-specific) correlated with better subjective sleep quality and lower sleep deficit.
• Increased general competence was linked to longer subjective sleep duration and shorter sleep onset latency.
• Greater autonomy and relatedness related to lower perceived sleep need.

Conclusions:

• Basic psychological need satisfaction, encompassing general and sleep-specific domains, is positively associated with athletes' perceived sleep quality.
• Findings highlight the importance of psychological needs in athlete sleep dynamics and suggest potential intervention targets.