The influence of sleep hygiene education on sleep in professional rugby league athletes

Objective: To examine the usefulness of sleep hygiene education on the sleep of professional rugby league athletes during a 10-week period of the competitive season. Design: Case study. Participants: Twenty-four professional rugby league athletes. Measurements: Initially, participants were monitored for a 2-week period using wrist activity monitors allowing baseline estimation of sleep. Following this, 12 athletes attended two 30-minute sleep hygiene education seminars delivered over successive weeks, whereas the remaining 12 athletes received no education. Sleep was monitored in all athletes across the 2-week education period and for a 2-week period 1 month following the end of education. Split-plot analysis of variance and paired t tests were used to examine differences in sleep across the duration of the investigation. Results: An initial sleep hygiene education seminar resulted in an earlier bedtime (effect size [ES] = 0.53 +/- 0.48), more time in bed (ES = 0.53 +/- 0.49), and increased sleep duration (ES = 0.47 +/- 0.44). A second sleep hygiene education seminar resulted in more time in bed (ES = 0.84 +/- 0.50) but a reduction in sleep efficiency (ES = 1.15 +/- 0.48). One month following sleep hygiene education, sleep behavior was comparable to that observed at baseline. Conclusion: This study shows that sleep hygiene education can lead to positive changes in sleep behavior. However, changes in sleep from education may not be sustained following the initial intervention. (C) 2018 National Sleep Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.