An Objective Measure of Sleep in Division I College Soccer Players Compared to the General College Population

Introduction: Sleep is necessary for proper recovery from daily life for both college athletes and students. Purpose: To objectively evaluate the sleep quality of college athletes across gender, comparing them to a normal college student population. Methods: A convenience sample of 104 subjects (19.39 ± 1.28 years), 42 Division college athletes and 62 comparison college students completed one week of data collection using the ActiGraph GT3X device. Wear time, sleep time, and wake time were recorded by each participant. Independent variables were athlete status and gender. Dependent variables were Total Sleep Time (TST), Wake After Sleep Onset (WASO), Latency, and Efficiency as well as physical activity levels. Independent T-tests were used to compare variables of groups to normative data and between groups. Chi-square Tests of Independence were used to compare physical activity levels between groups. Pearson’s Product Correlations were used to compare the relationship of sleep and physical activity levels for each group. Results: One Sample Independent T-Tests showed all groups have significantly less TST and sleep efficiency (p \u3c 0.001) than the recommended values of 8 hours a night and 85% efficiency. Two Sample T-Tests showed male athletes had significant less TST than the comparison group (p = .010). Chi-square Tests of Independence showed no differences in physical activity levels. Pearson Product Correlations showed moderate relationships between physical activity and both latency (r = .383) and efficiency (r = -.364) for male athletes. For female athletes, there were moderate relationships between physical activity and TST (r = -.402), latency (r = .557), and efficiency (r = -.417). Conclusion: Findings suggest that both the Division I college athlete and general college student populations suffer from poor sleep quality. This study was inconclusive as to if differences are present between the two groups. Additional research regarding factors of a Division I athlete lifestyle and their effect on sleep quality