The Relationship between Sleep and Reaction Time in an Athlete: A Query

Dear Editor, Sleep is a crucial component of human life, in which a person takes a nap after a long day to relieve daily fatigue. Similarly, athlete’s workload is greater than that of a common person and requires more sleep to overcome tiredness. Sleep has received more attention in recent years for its impact on sports performance, cognitive health, and mental well-being. On the other hand, there is emerging evidence that inadequate sleep is a forecaster for injuries, discomfort, and particularly concussions.[1] However, sleep disorders such as insomnia, hypersomnia, and exhaustion are among the criteria for diagnosis of depression,[2] which may affect sports performance. Adults typically need 7 hours of sleep per night, with poor sleep leading to fatigue, depression, impaired performance, and vigilance.[3] The human brain is complex, with various systems that allow it to adapt quickly on sporting events.[4] Indeed, sleep allows the body to restore itself, and a sleep-deprived athlete interrupts the process. Athletes’ reaction speeds may differ depending on a range of external signals.[5] In the world of sports, milliseconds can mean the difference between win and defeat. Reaction time (RT), or the time between a stimulus and the initiation of a bodily response, is critical for athletes across all disciplines. RT refers to the time between an external signal and the response to it. RT assesses how quickly an organ responds to a certain stimulus.[6] A split-second decision, whether by a goalkeeper reacting to a penalty kick, a sprinter leaping off the blocks, or a tennis player returning a serve, can change the game.[7] The human brain, a complex network of interconnected neurons, relies on deep rapid eye movement sleep for robust and efficient neural connections. This sleep rejuvenates worn-out pathways, optimizes synaptic connections, and enhances communication, providing real-world benefits for athletes.[7] However, sleep is crucial for physical and mental health, but one-third of Americans get < 7 h of sleep per night, affecting RT. In this manner, sleep deficit increases response times as a person loses more sleep. A prior investigation demonstrated that when participants were permitted to sleep for 5 h each night over the course of a week, their response times gradually enhanced. This is due to the body’s simultaneous and competing needs, which interfere with attention and lead to cognitive impairment which slows down the reaction speed.[8] Another study suggests that sleep loss has a significant impact on dynamic changes in mental focus and response time in healthy people.[9] Since reaction time is an important indicator of a sportsperson’s quickness and performance then, improving response time will eventually improve a sportsperson’s game performance.[10] Therefore, athletes must get enough sleep to maintain good mental and physical health. Athletes are increasingly focusing on optimizing sleep to improve their performance, as sleep disorders can lead to excessive sleepiness, daytime dysfunction, and performance issues, influenced by various factors.[11] Canadian Sports for Life produced a reference to sports sleep requirements in 2013. This guideline proposes that athletes that are aged 15 and up have prolonged hours of sleep every night, with an additional 30 min of sleep in the form of a nap between 2:00 and 4:00 postmeridiem (PM). However, aiming for 10 h of sleep per day in total is more likely to increase performance than 8 h of sleep per day.[12,13] According to studies of collegiate athletes, not getting enough sleep reduces their RTs and accuracy. Based on research of basketball free throws and three-pointers, sleep-deprived athletes can lose up to 50% of their accuracy. Accuracy can improve by 10% when they sleep for 10 h or longer.[14] However, early research on sleep indicates that slumbering during specific nocturnal hours, such as from 10:00 PM to 4:00 ante meridiem (AM), yields greater restorative quality. Further, numerous studies have classified both morning and afternoon sleep as detrimental to physiological health. In traditional medicinal practices, midday sleep is similarly regarded as a contributing factor to the predominance of fatigue. However, some scholarly sources assert that the optimal duration for daytime napping occurs between 11:00 AM and 12:00 meridiem (MD). A late morning to midday sleep schedule (11:00 AM to 12:00 MD) can be helpful for athletes who might have to participate in the evening for competition. Researchers Milner and Cote concluded that even short daytime naps could improve alertness and cognitive performance, helping athletes maintain quicker RT.[15] This suggests that a well-structured midday sleep regimen can serve as a recovery tool to support RT. Empirical evidence indicates that the caliber of sleep attained during this interval is approximately four to seven times superior to that experienced during morning and afternoon hours. Nonetheless, the authors advocate for a sleep schedule encompassing the hours between 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM. As a result, the author acknowledges the difference in sleep quality depending on the time of day and proposes three distinct sleep regimens customized for sportsmen [Figure 1].Figure 1: Proposed quality sleep regimens in a 24-hour periodFigure 1 shows list of quality sleep regimens in a 24-h period altogether, nocturnal sleep (10:00 PM to 4:00 AM), when aligned with the body’s natural circadian rhythm, is crucial for optimal cognitive function, motor skills, and recovery. Adequate specific daytime napping (11:00 AM to 12:00 MD) enhances cognitive functions such as attention, decision-making, and reaction speed, all of which are vital for athletic performance.[16] A midday sleep or napping (2:00 PM to 4:00 PM) has gained attention as a potential strategy for enhancing performance in athletes, particularly in sports requiring quick RT. Similarly, a study by Waterhouse et al. found that a short time nap after lunch improved RT in athletes, helping to counteract the typical postlunch dip in alertness and cognitive performance.[17] The previous study shows the key findings on how different sleep regimens impact RT in athletes [Table 1].Table 1: Different sleep regimens impact reaction time in athletesThe abovementioned table reflects general trends observed in studies on athletes, but individual responses may vary based on some other factors such as various types of sport, training loads, and genetics. Practical implications for athletes and coaches are utilizing different sleep regimens for improving RT on the field. PRIORITIZING THE LENGTH OF SLEEP Implication: Athletes should aim for 7–10 h of sleep at night and 30 min to 90 min at day. Practice: Coaches can schedule training sessions to accommodate this sleep duration, avoiding early-morning practices if athletes report poor sleep at night. NAPPING STRATEGIES Implication: Strategic napping (30–90 min) can counteract fatigue and improve quick RT. Practice: Encourage athletes to take short naps 6–8 h before a competition. SLEEP CONSISTENCY Implication: Maintaining a consistent sleep–wake schedule which is crucial for quick RT. Practice: Coaches can educate athletes on the importance of regular bedtimes and wake times, even on rest days. SLEEP ENVIRONMENT Implication: Optimizing the sleep environment (dark, cool, and quiet) improves sleep quality. Practice: Teams can provide athletes with blackout curtains, white noise machine, and on travel-friendly sleep kits when on the road. RECOVERY SLEEP POST-EVENT Implication: Recovery sleep following intense competition or training can restore cognitive performance, including RT. Practice: Encourage athletes to prioritize additional sleep in the days following events to compensate for any deficits. Altogether, it is quite fascinating that the link between a split-second decision (RT) made by athletes in the field is significantly influenced by prolonged deep sleep. It is assumed that a reduction in sleep duration among athletes at night and/or day may lead to increased response times in events, which could negatively impact on game performance. For all counts and with some verified findings, it can be said that adequate sleep is an essential component for responding to each signal in games and sports. Ethical statement Ethical statement is not applicable for this article. Declaration of patient consent Patient consent is not applicable for this article. Data availability statement Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study. Financial support and sponsorship Nil. Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts of interest.

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