Sleeping to perform: examining sleep and exercise in elite female athletes
type: CreativeWork
description: Sleep plays an essential role in biological functions, and is fundamental for human health and wellbeing. Sleep is also widely recognised as playing an important role in the sporting environment, with an increasing awareness of the importance of sleep in elite athletes. Although sleep research in athletes is increasing, elite athletes are still largely underrepresented in the literature, especially female athletes. Through a series of six studies, this PhD thesis aimed to enhance the understanding of sleep habits of elite athletes, specifically female team sport athletes. The main aim of the thesis was to investigate the sleep habits of elite female team sport athletes in both training and competition environments and also to evaluate interventions to improve sleep and subsequent exercise performance. Study One assessed the reliability and validity of a linear position transducer device as a performance tool for further studies within the thesis. Study Two subjectively and objectively assessed sleep indices in the night leading up to and the nights following competition over a netball season. Study Three investigated perceived and hormonal stress markers and sleep responses following a match, training and control condition. Study Four assessed difference between the melatonin and sleep responses to training and non-training days. Study Fix, objectively assessed the effect of an acute sleep hygiene education session on sleep indices via wrist-actigraphy. Finally, Study Six, an observational and longitudinal study, examined the influence of match-day napping on various performance and perceptual markers. In Study One, a linear position transducer (GymAware, Kinetic Performance Technology, Canberra, Australia), was shown to be a reliable tool for measuring countermovement squat jump performance in female athletes, with a mean intraclass correlation of 0.70 for jump height, 0.90 for peak velocity, and 0.91 for mean velocity. It was also shown to have a Pearson correlati…
abstract: Sleep plays an essential role in biological functions, and is fundamental for human health and wellbeing. Sleep is also widely recognised as playing an important role in the sporting environment, with an increasing awareness of the importance of sleep in elite athletes. Although sleep research in athletes is increasing, elite athletes are still largely underrepresented in the literature, especially female athletes. Through a series of six studies, this PhD thesis aimed to enhance the understanding of sleep habits of elite athletes, specifically female team sport athletes. The main aim of the thesis was to investigate the sleep habits of elite female team sport athletes in both training and competition environments and also to evaluate interventions to improve sleep and subsequent exercise performance. Study One assessed the reliability and validity of a linear position transducer device as a performance tool for further studies within the thesis. Study Two subjectively and objectively assessed sleep indices in the night leading up to and the nights following competition over a netball season. Study Three investigated perceived and hormonal stress markers and sleep responses following a match, training and control condition. Study Four assessed difference between the melatonin and sleep responses to training and non-training days. Study Fix, objectively assessed the effect of an acute sleep hygiene education session on sleep indices via wrist-actigraphy. Finally, Study Six, an observational and longitudinal study, examined the influence of match-day napping on various performance and perceptual markers. In Study One, a linear position transducer (GymAware, Kinetic Performance Technology, Canberra, Australia), was shown to be a reliable tool for measuring countermovement squat jump performance in female athletes, with a mean intraclass correlation of 0.70 for jump height, 0.90 for peak velocity, and 0.91 for mean velocity. It was also shown to have a Pearson correlati…
author: O'Donnell, Shannon Lea
license: https://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/bitstreams/17b05d8c-59a7-45a3-809f-583667a75390/download
date published: 2018
date modified: 2026-07-24T05:57:21Z
provider: University Waikato
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: The University of Waikato