Sleep

Question 1

Define…

1) sleep latency
2) sleep efficiency
3) sleep quality

Answer 1

1) Time taken to fall asleep
2) (sleep time/time in bed) * 100
3) subjective experience of sleep

Question 2

What is the behavioural definition of sleep?

Answer 2

a period of restorative immobility of greatly reduced responsiveness

Question 3

What is the physiological definition of sleep?

Answer 3

a dynamic ‘stage like’ process showing distinctive electrophysiological structure

Question 4

What are the 4 theories of sleep and who proposed them?

Answer 4

ADAPTATION : growth and repair
ENERGY CONSERVATION : reduced metabolism
INACTIVITY : better survival chance
BRAIN PLASTICITY : synapse regeneration

• Siegal (2005)

Question 5

What is the effect of sleep deprivation?

Answer 5

impaired immune function and altered hormone and metabolism responses

Question 6

What are 3 commonly used methods of measuring sleep?

Answer 6

> Polysomnography (EEG, EMG, EOG)
Actigraphy
Questionnaires

Question 7

Summarise how polysomnography can be used to assess sleep

Answer 7

sleep states are identified through electrophysiological patterns, which are used to create a hypnogram

Question 8

Summarise how actigraphy can be used to assess sleep and give a drawback of using actigraphy

Answer 8

a wrist worn device measures movement and light intensity during the night to characterise sleep patterns

X Doesn’t measure sleep stages

Question 9

What is the most commonly used sleep questionnaire and what are the pros and cons of using it?

Answer 9

the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) which measures sleep quality and insomnia.

+ well validated in many populations
X not a diagnostic tool

Question 10

What is the definition of good quality sleep and who the fuck said so?

Answer 10

> 85% sleep efficiency
sleep latency of <30 mins
waking up once or less a night

• National Sleep Foundation (2017)

Question 11

What is the definition of insomnia?

give a reference

Answer 11

difficulty initiating / maintaining sleep despite adequate chance
non-restorative sleep
occurrence 3 x a week for a month

• American Academy of Sleep Medicine (2004)

Question 12

Describe the two processes of sleep in “Borbely’s two process model”

Answer 12

S - sleep propensity is dependent on the preceding duration of wake
C - sleep propensity is controlled by pacemakers and varies over 24 hours

Question 13

What are the three broad categories of processes that influence sleep behaviours?

Answer 13

> Sleep homeostasis
Circadian rhythm
Arousal system

Question 14

Describe sleep homeostasis

Answer 14

adenosine (NT) builds up in the basal forebrain during wake, informing the brain that it should sleep

More PA = More adenosine = Greater sleep drive

Question 15

How does a short sleep duration affect sleep propensity and which process of Borbely’s model does this involve?

Answer 15

Short sleep duration increases propensity to sleep (S process)
- Borbely (1982)

Question 16

What are circadian rhythms controlled by?

Answer 16

exposure to light which stimulates the SCN

Question 17

Describe the procedure and results of a piece of research into the effect of manipulating circadian rhythms on sleep

Answer 17

Petit et al (2014)
exposed 16 highly trained athletes to a 5h phase advance in a lab setting.
Sleep efficiency dropped dramatically.

X V. large individual differences, so not universal.

Question 18

How does the arousal system affect sleep/wake behaviours?

Answer 18

the ascending reticular activating system promotes cortical arousal (wake)

Question 19

How do active arousal systems affect an athlete in …
a) performance
b ) sleep
??

Answer 19

a) can be beneficial to be hyperaroused

b) results in high sleep reactivity which can lead to sleep disruption

Question 20

What is sleep reactivity?

Answer 20

the extent to which an individual is disrupted in sleep by outside factors (noise, touch, different environment)

Question 21

Describe a piece of research into sleep reactivity and sleep behaviours

Answer 21

Drake et al (2004)

those w/ high sleep reactivity had greater sleep latency during a sleep lab visit (new environment)

Question 22

What effect does elite sports have on the three sleep processes of sleep homeostasis, circadian rhythm and arousal system?

Answer 22

elite sport CHALLENGES these processes, BUT, doesn’t necessarily DEGRADE them

Question 23

Outline 2 pieces of research into how sleep can affect sporting performance

Answer 23

> Silva & Paira (2016)
top ranked intl gymnasts scored higher on PSQI (poorer sleep), however, most ‘sleepy’ athletes performed worst.

> Leger et al (2008)
best performing team in a long haul sailing race “banked” sleep prior to the race

Question 24

How does participation in high level sport influence PSQI score?

Answer 24

athletes score higher on PSQI than non-athlete controls

- (Bender et al, 2014)

Question 25

Outline the protocol and findings of Juliff et al (2015) into the effect of high level competition on sleep

Answer 25

~300 Australian olympic athletes completed PSQI leading up to London 2012.
64% reported disturbed sleep prior to comp, mainly due to nerved/worry.
Performance quality was not affected by sleep quality/quantity prior to comp.
Individual sports reported higher sleep disturbances than team sport, due to greater responsibility and pressures
- (Juliff et al, 2015)

Question 26

Which stage of sleep is V.importante for psychophysiological restoration?

Answer 26

stage 3

Question 27

How must you approach improving athletes’ sleeping behaviours?

Answer 27

give realistic and practical guidelines

Question 28

Why is it important that you manage athlete sleep expectations?

Answer 28

reduce worry associated with sleep as psychology and cognitions can hugely affect sleep

Question 29

How can you fix and individual who is spending too long in bed trying to sleep and has poor sleep efficiency?

Answer 29

reduce sleep window (opportunity), increasing sleep drive and therefore shortening sleep latency

Working off the S process of Borbely’s model.