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Abstract: Background: Evaluating sleep quality among athletes is critical due to the adverse effects of sleep deprivation, including reduced capacity to think and react quickly, reduced communication skills, and reduced athletic performance. Examining the role of chronotype in athletic performance provides insight to optimize training, performance, and recovery. The purpose of this study was to evaluate differences by chronotype preference for training volume, sleep quality, and wellness in collegiate female lacrosse athletes. Methods: Athletes (n=14) completed a survey to identify their chronotype: morning/evening type (M/E, n=5) or neither (N, n=9). Athletes completed monthly evaluations of sleep quality with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and daily evaluations of wellness. Daily assessment of training volume was evaluated using global positioning system (GPS) microtechnology. Results: There was no difference between groups (p=.402) for wellness, sleep, and training volume, but there was a difference over time (p<.001). Training volume was lowest in September compared to October and December (p=.001-.041) and wellness was higher in September than October and November (p<.001). Sleep quality showed no change across the months (p=.386). Conclusions: Training volume, wellness, and sleep quality did not differ by chronotype in the collegiate team sport athletes. However, the N chronotype athletes consistently showed better sleep quality and higher training volume. Thus, evaluating these differences over an extended time period may result in group differences.
Keywords: team sports, recovery, collegiate athlete, sleep quality, wellness, training load
Chronotype refers to one's natural inclination to the times of day at which the individual is more energetic or prefers to sleep (Pacheco & Rehman, 2022). It is a complex phenotype including many genetic and non-genetic determining factors and is based on circadian behavior. This can impact one's performance at varying tasks depending on the time of day and that person's chronotype (Pacheco & Rehman, 2022). Athletic performance in training and games may partially be related to athlete chronotype and time of the event (Roden et al., 2017). Those who are considered "early birds" might train best at an early morning practice whereas "night owls" may have better performance at practice in the evening. The Morningness/Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) identifies three different chronotypes: "morning" type, "evening" type, and "neither" type (Adan & Almirall, 1991). Morning types have peak performance in the early...
