The Cause and Effects of Precompetition Sleep Loss on the Performanceof Varsity AthletesAccording to Zielinski, Mckenna and McCarley (2016), sleep is a crucial condition of the body that is critical for a variety of human processes and functions including energy conservation, cognition, and performance. Because of this, many often assume that the success of athletic performance is determined by the hours of sleep one receives. While there are copious studies that demonstrate how chronic sleep deprivation is detrimental to an athlete’s ability to perform, studies on short-term sleep loss are limited. This is problematic since numerous athletes reported having poorer sleep the night before a competition (Watson, 2017). Ultimately, this leads to the question of what factors affect an athlete’s ability to sleep the night before a competition and does precompetition sleep loss have an affect on their performance the next day. Due to the high prevalence of precompetition sleep loss amongst athletes, this topic is worth looking into. This study will discuss the behavioural causes of precompetition sleep loss on varsity athletes based on the type of sport they are in (team or independent), as well as their gender. It will also explore the biophysical effects that acute sleep loss may have on an athlete’s body and their ability to perform based on the intensity of the sport they play (aerobic or anaerobic). The aim of this study is to understand how precompetition sleep loss is experienced amongst different athletes and how it affects their athletic performance. Acquiring this information will further advance the knowledge of sleep behaviour in varsity athletes and will allow coaches and athletes to determine whether or not their performance is affected by a single night of reduced sleep.Literature Review:Factors contributing to precompetition sleep loss In a study based on sleep and athletic performance, Watson (2017)recommends that adults should sleep 8 hours a night and explains that sleep notonly has significant impacts on essential body functions, but it also plays acrucial role in reducing injuries and illnesses in athletes. Thus, sleep notonly optimizes health, but it also improves performance through increasedability to participate in practices and training. Inspite of all thesebenefits, many varsity athletes still sleep below the recommended hours due topsychological and external stressors before a game/competition. One of the mostcommon psychological stressors indicated among athletes is pre-game anxiety ornervous thoughts before a game (Lastella, Lovell and Sargent, 2012). Otherfactors such as jet lag, an unfamiliar environment, noise, earlygames/practices, awakenings and frequent trips to the bathroom also contributedto an athlete’s disturbed sleep the night prior to a competition (Lastella,Lovell and Sargent, 2012). However, these factors affect athletes differentlydepending on what type of sport they play (team or individual) and theirgender. Based on previous studies, Erlacher et al. (2011) hypothesized thatplayers of individual sports would experience more sleep difficulty than thosewho participated in team sports. This is because athletes who are a part of ateam have a supportive group of teammates who share the pressure andpsychological feelings of nervousness or anxiety. In contrast, athletes inindividual sports experience more anxiety since all the pressure of the gamefalls onto them and they have only themselves to blame for the outcome of thecompetition. Also, because team sports generally play more games on a week toweek basis, they have the opportunity to develop better sleep routines before acompetition in comparison to individual athletes who compete on an irregularbasis. Thus, because athletes involved in a team sport are exposed to moregames, they may be immune to pregame anxiety or have developed coping mechanismsto help them overcome it. Additionally, Erlacher et al. (2011) alsohypothesized that females would experience more sleep abnormalities sinceprevious research displayed a higher insomnia rate in women than in men.Therefore, coaches should pay special attention to female athletes andindividual athletes since they are most susceptible to precompetition sleeploss. Furthermore, alongside pregame nervousness, Watson (2017) illustratesthat youth and collegiate athletes may experience additional stresses thatthreaten their sleep quality and duration. Since these athletes are still inschool, academic pressure and stressors contribute significantly to their sleeploss. Oftentimes for student-athletes, sleep is sacrificed in order to maketime for both academics and athletics. This not only compromises their healthbut may also negatively affect their academic and athletic performance. Effects of sleep loss on performanceWhile the effects of sleep deprivation is known to be associated with adecrease in athletic performance, little is known about the effects ofshort-term precompetition sleep loss on an athlete’s ability to perform. InErlacher et al.’s (2011) study, they indicate that reduced sleep causes harmfulbiophysical effects on the brain involving focus such as cognitive slowing andan inability to concentrate on a task over time. Thus, prolonged sportsrequiring quick decision making or accuracy would be negatively affected byacute sleep restriction. This is proven by Watson (2017) who conducted a studyinvolving dart players where the accuracy decreased significantly after asingle night of 4-5 hours of sleep. Additionally, in Azboy and Kaygisiz’s(2009) study, they found that one night of sleep loss caused a decreased timeto exhaustion in progressive testing for volleyball players. Moreover, inLastella, Lovell and Sargent’s (2012) study, they explored how one night ofsleep deprivation would affect endurance. They discovered that after 30 minutesof running on a treadmill, the participants ran 187 metres less than when theywere fully rested. Due to the athlete’s sleep loss, their accuracy, ability tofocus and endurance deteriorated, proving that even small amounts of sleep losscan have harmful effects on performance. On the contrary, some studies reportedno overall changes in performance after a single night of sleep loss. InErlacher et al.’s (2011) study, 46.6% of the participants who had experiencedprecompetition sleep loss reported that it had no influence on theirperformance whereas only 14% of the participants who experienced precompetitionsleep loss believed it hindered their ability to perform. Furthermore, inTakeuchi et al.’s (1985) study, they discovered no changes in a 40-m sprintperformance after 64 hours of complete sleep deprivation. In Watson’s (2017)study, he measured the performance of collegiate weightlifters after one nightof deprived sleep. He also found no significant changes in their ability toperform after one single night of disturbed sleep. These findings arecontradictory to the previous ones since some athletes experienced nosignificant changes in their performance whereas others experience negativeeffects. However, from the studies, it seems that reduced sleep has a negativeimpact on activities that involve accuracy such as darts and aerobic activitiesthat require endurance such as volleyball and long distance running. Shorter,high-intensity, anaerobic activities such as sprinting and weightlifting werenot affected as much. Thus, it can be said that short-term sleep restrictionhas a negative effect on aerobic athletes since they require endurance andaccuracy whereas anaerobic athletes are not affected since they involve shorteractivities with high-intensity movements. Additionally, the results of thestudies may also be affected by the time of day in which the athletes performedthese activities. Thun et al. (2015) found that performance peaked during theevening for those involved in anaerobic activities such as weightliftingwhereas performance was best during the morning for aerobic activities such ascycling. Performance normally would peak during the evening because that iswhen our body’s internal temperature is the greatest. However, for aerobicactivities, fatigue and tired muscles are more prominent and thus leads to adecreased time to exhaustion. Moreover, some athletes may not be affected asmuch by short-term sleep restriction because humans are able to cope with thephysiological and psychological stresses in the absence of sleep (Watson,2017). Success can still be achieved even if athletes lack sleep depending ontheir ability to cope. Thus, some athletes who have been competing or playingthe sport for a long time may have developed coping mechanisms to fight off thestressors associated with sleep loss so that their performance is not as easilyeffected.The purpose of this study is to examine the causes of precompetitionsleep loss among different athletes and the effects it has on theirperformance. The literature examined claims that female and independentathletes would be more susceptible to precompetition sleep loss due topsychological factors such as anxiety and stress. Additionally, the literaturereviewed also suggests that negative biophysical factors affecting athleticperformance are strongly associated with aerobic athletes rather than anaerobicathletes. The present paper will explore these theories and test whether or notthey are true.Methods:ParticipantsBased on the information gathered from the literature review,precompetition sleep loss had different effects based on three factors, thetype of sport (team or independent), gender, and the intensity of the sport(aerobic or anaerobic). For this study, aerobic activities involved light tomoderate intensity movement for a longer period of time whereas anaerobicactivities involved high-intensity movement for a shorter period of time. Thefour participants included in this study were all first year varsity athletesstudying kinesiology from the University of Toronto who played different typesof sports at different intensities. The first two participants consisted of onefemale from the track and field team and one male from the figure skating team.Both participants were independent athletes who participated in anaerobicactivities. The other two participants consisted of one male from thebasketball team and one female from the water polo team. Both participants wereapart of team sports involving aerobic movement. ProcessConducting interviews was the best method to explore whether or notprecompetition sleep loss had an effect on athletic performance because itallowed for more in-depth experiences to be gathered from sport-specific peoplerather than having generalized information from a group of random athletes.Gathering detailed experiences from sport-specific athletes was essential forthis study since the effect of precompetition sleep loss varied for everyone.During the interview, a variety of questions were asked to assess the theoriesmentioned in the literature review. This included questions that involved theirsleeping patterns, performance, preferences of game times and experience withthe sport. Sleeping Patterns assessed whether the athlete experienced precompetition sleep loss bycomparing the regular hours of sleep they receive to the amount of sleep theyget the night before a competition. Also, how they felt before a game, how theywere doing in school, how they adjusted to new environments and how they feltabout the game/practice times were examples of questions that were asked todetermine what factors contributed to their sleep loss. Performance was evaluated based on the athlete’s own self assessment. How they feltthroughout the competition after one night of sleep loss was compared how theyfelt on days where they were fully rested to assess whether precompetitionsleep loss had an effect on their ability to perform. Preferences of GameTime were important to determine whether Thunet al.’s theory discussed in the literature review was true. Questions such aswhen do you usually have your games, when do you prefer to have your games andwhen do you think your performance is at its peak were asked to not only testthe theory but to also assess whether game time had an affect on theirperformance. Experience with theSport was asked to determine whether the athletehad the ability to cope with the psychological and physiological stressorsassociated with reduced sleep. How long have you played this sport is anexample of the questions asked. This gives insight as to why some athletes mayor may not experience precompetition sleep loss or why acute sleep loss may ormay not have an impact on their performance.Peer ReviewThrough the peer review process, the individual who looked over mypaper found that I had over explained each interview in the data analysisportion and was being too repetitive. Instead of explaining each response, hesuggested to include a generalized summary and discuss the patterns presentamongst the four interviews instead of explaining each one in depth. Afterreviewing the data analysis section myself, I agreed with his critique andsummarized my findings into one cohesive paragraph that highlighted the key trendsand patterns. Additionally, the peer reviewer also found that my topic ofinquiry was unclear since it was only stated once in the introduction. Thus, Iadded in a section at the end of my literature review that restated my topic ofinquiry with reference to the information I found in the literature review.Data AnalysisTrends/PatternsThrough conducting the interviews, the results illustrate howprecompetition sleep loss is experienced by different athletes and how itaffects their performance. The findings also proved and debunked the theoriespresented in the literature review. Overall, all the athletes reported to experience precompetition sleeploss. Factors including school, anxiety, early games/competitions and adjustingto a new environment all contributed to their inability to sleep the nightprior to competitions. Because all of these athletes are full time universitystudents, their sleep is often compromised to make time for both academics andathletics. They reported to stay up late studying or finishing an assignmentwhich resulted in reduced sleep. Moreover, three of the four athletesinterviewed complained that early game/competition times also contributed totheir lack of sleep. In one instance, the water polo player would often have latepractices and early leave times in the morning for a competition. This not onlyminimizes her hours of sleep but also reduces the time she has to completeother tasks such as school work. Another contributing factor to reduced sleepwas the initial adjustment to a new environment. Three of the four athletesreported having difficulty sleeping when they first moved to Toronto or whenthey travelled to a different city for competitions. Additionally, thebehavioural sleep habits were also explored between team and independentathletes as well as male and female athletes. The theory that individual sportathletes would experience higher levels of anxiety compared to team sportathletes remained equivocal since all athletes from both team and individualsports reported feelings of anxiety and nervousness prior togames/competitions. The most common reason for feelings anxious before a gamewas the psychological fear of making mistakes. Furthermore, the theory thatfemale athletes would experience more sleep abnormalities was proven to beinaccurate since the females in this study actually slept equal to or more thanthe male athletes. Also, the female athlete’s ability to sleep in the presenceof nerves and anxiety were also better compared to the male athletes. Bothfemale athletes reported that although they did feel anxiety before games, theyfelt it had no affect on their ability to sleep. On the contrary, the malesfound it difficult to fall asleep due to nervous thoughts about the game.In terms of performance, the anaerobic athletes experienced nosignificant changes while the aerobic athletes reported to feel negativebiophysical effects that reduced their ability to perform. From the interviews,the figure skater and sprinter did not experience significant changes to theirperformance after one night of poor sleep other than daytime fatigue and soremuscles. The figure skater’s ability to execute jumps was only affected on thesecond day of competitions where he would be significantly more sleep deprivedbecause he would have an accumulation of loss sleep due to nervous thoughtsthat persisted over the two day competition. However his performance wasgenerally unaffected on the first day of the competition even though he alsoexperienced sleep loss the night before. On the contrary, the basketball andwater polo athletes experienced biophysical detriments from the loss sleep thataffected their performance. The basketball player felt he had a decreased timeto exhaustion that limited his ability to play offence and defence maximallywhile the water polo player felt a decrease in alertness and accuracy. Due tothe basketball player’s fourteen years of experience, endurance was the onlyfactor that was negatively influenced from his lack of sleep. His focus, decisionmaking and accuracy were not affected. On the contrary, since the water poloplayer only had four years of experience, factors such as her accuracy andreaction time were negatively affected by her lack of sleep. Thus, this provesthat aerobic athletes are more affected by sleep loss than anaerobic athletesand proves that experience does play a role in performance. In terms of peakperformance times, Thun et al.’s theory was proven correct since the anaerobicathletes seemed to prefer evening games/competitions while the aerobic athletespreferred morning games. Thus, in the case for aerobic athletes, even in theabsence of sleep, if they were able to compete during their preferred times,their performance may not be affected as much.ConclusionThis study explored the prevalence of precompetition sleep loss in varsity athletes and its effect on their performance. Overall, all athletes in the study exhibited precompetition anxiety, however only two of the four reported that it affected their sleep. Other factors such as school, early games/practice times and travelling however, also contributed to their inability to sleep the night before a competition. Contrary to Erlachler et al’s theory, male athletes actually exhibited a higher prevalence of disturbed sleep due to anxiety in comparison to the females athletes. Also, it was found that only athletes involved in aerobic sports such as basketball and water polo exhibited negative changes in their performance. Although not all athletes experienced poorer performance, all of them claimed to feel physically tired and experience daytime fatigue after one night of disturbed sleep. Because these athletes have been playing their specific sport for several years, many of them have developed the ability to cope through the physiological and psychological stresses of reduced sleep. Thus, even though they feel tired, they are still able to power through the stressors and perform relatively well. This is seen in the basketball player’s response.  Through this study, the relationship between precompetition sleep loss and performance is now better understood however, there are many unknowns that still exist. For example, further studies could explore the reason behind why aerobic athletes experience more detriments from reduced sleep in comparison to anaerobic athletes or why male athletes are affected by anxiety more than female athletes. Acquiring this information would educate both athletes and coaches on the importance of sleep and would encourage athletes to inherit better sleep routines in order to optimize performance. Future studies could also explore how many hours of deprived sleep anaerobic athletes can endure before it begins to affect their performance negatively. This gives the athletes an idea of how much sleep they need in order to perform well. This study was successful in determining the causes and effects thatprecompetition sleep loss has on varsity athletes. Despite the fact thatprecompetition sleep loss may not have a huge impact on athletic performance,loss of sleep made the athletes feel physically and mentally exhausted.Although they are able to cope with the exhaustion, coaches should implementbetter sleep routines and organize later practice and game/competition timesfor their athletes since many of them complained that early practices/gametimes contributed to their lack of sleep. For varsity athletes, coaches andteachers should emphasize the importance of time management in order to achievebalance and succeed in both academics and athletics while sleeping enoughhours. Additionally since nervousness was the predominating factor experiencedby all four of the interviewed athletes, coaches and athletes should developspecific tactics to target anxiety such as meditation or listening to music.Overall, increased sleep is associated with better performance. Thus, ensuringathletes sleep a sufficient amount the night before competitions is beneficialin order for them to mentally and physically feel prepared to perform to the bestof their ability.References:Azboy, O., & Kaygisiz, Z. (2009). Effects of sleep deprivation on cardiorespiratory functions of the runners and volleyball players during rest and exercise. Acta Physiologica Hungarica, 96(1), 29-36. doi:10.1556/aphysiol.96.2009.1.3 Erlacher, D., Ehrlenspiel, F., Adegbesan, O. A., & El-Din, H. G. (2011). Sleep habits in German athletes before important competitions or games. Journal of Sports Sciences, 29(8), 859-866. doi:10.1080/02640414.2011.565782Lastella, M., Lovell, G. P., & Sargent, C. (2012). Athletes precompetitive sleep behaviour and its relationship with subsequent precompetitive mood and performance. European Journal of Sport Science, 14(1). doi:10.1080/17461391.2012.660505Takeuchi, L., Davis, G. M., Plyley, M., Goode, R., & Shephard, R. J. (1985). Sleep deprivation, chronic exercise and muscular performance. Ergonomics, 28(3), 591-601. doi:10.1080/00140138508963173Thun, E., Bjorvatn, B., Flo, E., Harris, A., & Pallesen, S. (2015). Sleep, circadian rhythms, and athletic performance. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 23(1), 1-9. doi:10.1016/j.smrv.2014.11.003Zielinski, M. R., McKenna, J. T., & McCarley, R. W. (2016). Functions and Mechanisms of Sleep. Aims Neurosci., 3(1), 67-104. doi:10.3934/Neuroscience.2016.1.67Interview QuestionsWhat is yourgender?What sport do youplay?How long have youplayed this sport?On average how manyhours of sleep do you get a nightHow do you feelbefore games/competitions?Does it affect yoursleep (how you feel about games)?On days where youget very little sleep, do you think it has an affect on your performance? How?Are there any otherfactors that contribute to your sleep loss? Do you have a preferred game time (morning,afternoon, evening) where you feel your performance is best?How do you sleepwhen you are in a new environment?Get Help With Your EssayIf you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help!Find out more