摘要：Sleep behaviors although significantly relevant to exercise recovery are poorly
characterized in Para-sport athletes. Therefore, the main aims of this study were to
describe sleep quality and quantity of highly trained wheelchair rugby (WR) athletes
during the competitive season, and to investigate whether impairment type or attending
a training camp influenced sleep outcomes. Eighteen male WR athletes (mean ± SD;
age: 30 ± 5 years) with cervical spinal cord injuries (n = 11) (CSCI) and without (n
= 7) (NON-SCI) wore an activity monitor over a 16-day period to objectively quantify
sleep parameters, while the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and nightly sleep diary
entries were used as subjective means. A sub-sample of the athletes (n = 11) had their
sleep monitored during a 3-night training camp to assess the impact of environmental
change on sleep. Furthermore, as an additional exploratory measure core temperature
was measured for a single night-time period using ingestible telemetry capsules. The
athletes had total sleep times and sleep efficiency scores of 7.06 (1.30) h.min [median
(interquartile range)] and 81 (9)%, respectively. Sleep onset latency and wake after sleep
onset were 13 (24) min and 1.11 (0.45) h.min, respectively. No significant differences
were found in objective sleep variables between the impairment groups despite the
CSCI group being significantly more likely to report a poorer night’s sleep (p = 0.04).
Furthermore, attending the training camp caused a significant reduction in total sleep
time for both groups [138 ± 33 min; (95% CI: 18–60 min) p < 0.01]. This study highlights
suboptimal sleep characteristics that are present in both CSCI and NON-SCI wheelchair
athletes, as defined by the National Sleep Foundation. Although objective scores did not
differ between groups, athletes with a CSCI rated their sleep worse. Furthermore, the
disruption of sleep during training camp reflects an additional risk factor that is important
to recognize for those working with wheelchair athletes.
关键词：Paralympics; Disability; Exercise recovery; sleep duration; Sport; training camp
