Optimal nocturnal sleep duration to maintain health-related quality of life in male collegiate athletes: a cross-sectional study
Abstract Background: This study investigated the optimal nocturnal sleep duration required by collegiate athletes to maintain physical and mental health, compared with non-athlete students. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a questionnaire survey was conducted to assess demographic variables, lifestyle and sleep habits, and health-related quality of life in 298 collegiate students (non-athletes, n = 158; athletes, n = 140). Physical component summary and mental component summary were assessed by using a Short-Form 8 Health survey, and participants with good physical as well as mental component summary scores were considered to have a good health-related quality of life. To confirm an association between nocturnal sleep length and good health-related quality of life, logistic regression analyses were conducted in non-athlete students and collegiate athletes separately. Subsequently, receiver operating characteristics curve analyses were performed for detection of the cut-off points for nocturnal sleep duration sufficient to maintain good health-related quality of life in both collegiate athletes and non-athlete students. Results: The average nocturnal sleep duration was 7 hours 4 minutes among collegiate athletes, and 75.7% of them had a worse physical component summary. The cut-off point for nocturnal sleep duration in collegiate athletes was 7.98 hours (area under the curve: 0.69, P = 0.013, sensitivity: 85.5%, specificity: 56.2%), which was longer than the cut-off of 6.58 hours for non-athlete students. Conclusion: Collegiate athletes required longer nocturnal sleep than non-athlete students. Nevertheless, their habitual nocturnal sleep duration was shorter compared to their optimal duration; around 80% of them faced chronic insufficient sleep. Improving sleep habits and sleep education is important in maintaining their good health-related quality of life.