How Well Do Young Male Semi-Professional Soccer Players Sleep During an Afternoon Nap?

Athletes often experience situations in which they do not obtain adequate sleep at night. One strategy to overcome this issue is to supplement nighttime sleep with a daytime nap. However, little is known about how well athletes sleep during daytime naps. The aims of this study were to (i) determine the ability of athletes to fall asleep during an afternoon nap and (ii) examine the composition of the sleep obtained. In a counterbalanced, repeated-measures cross-over design, 12 young male semi-professional soccer players were given a 1 h (15:00-16:00) or 2 h (14:00-16:00) nap opportunity following a normal night's sleep (7-8 h time in bed) in a laboratory. Sleep was monitored using polysomnography and variables were compared between naps using generalized estimating equation models. In the 1 h nap, participants took 6.5 min to fall asleep and spent 52/60 min asleep (87% efficiency); in the 2 h nap, participants took 7.5 min to fall asleep and spent 105/120 min asleep (87% efficiency). There was no difference in wake after sleep onset (p = 0.168) or time spent in stage N3 sleep (p = 0.110) between the 1 h and 2 h nap, but participants fell asleep faster (p < 0.001), obtained more sleep (p < 0.001), and spent more time in stage N1 sleep (p = 0.003), stage N2 sleep (p < 0.001), and Stage REM sleep (p = 0.004) in the 2 h nap. Athletes sleep well during 1 h and 2 h afternoon naps and could use this as a strategy to help meet sleep duration recommendations (i.e., 7-9 h).