SPORTS PERFORMANCE, SLEEP AND ANXIETY IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS: PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF A LONGITDUINAL STUDY
Authors: Sarkisova Natalya , Herrera-Hamilton Anita , Hartline Kenneth , Perez Iris , Wren Tishya , Edison Bianca 
Published: March 2019

Background:

There is limited literature and data on the longitudinal effects of sleep on the regular activities and experiences in which middle school and high school students participate. In the first year of this 6 year longitudinal study, we aim to look at the preliminary results of sleep, sports and anxiety with the graduating class of 2023.

Methods:

48 seventh grade students were administered an ActiGraph watch to assess sleep patterns, movements, and activity levels. Students also completed a background questionnaire to obtain basic information such as extracurricular and physical participation and subjective reporting of past injuries. The Beck Youth Anxiety Inventory (BYAI) is a validated outcome questionnaire that was also administered to assess the students’ specific worries about school performance, the future, and fear. The BYAI scores are converted into a T-score that are compared to normative sample scores to determine the students’ relative deviation from the mean of the normative group. After wearing the ActiGraph watch for 5 school nights, data was reviewed with a board certified sleep pulmonologist and Total Sleep Time (TST) was recorded for each night.

Results:

23 males and 25 females wore the watch for 5 school nights. Average age of students was 13 years (range: 12 to 13). During the study period, sleep, anxiety and sports participation were recorded . 240 school nights of nocturnal sleep were analyzed. TST averaged 6.5 hours (392 minutes). Females averaged 6.6 hours (395 minutes) of TST and males averaged 6.5 hours (391 minutes) of TST. For sports participation, both males and females played an average of 2 total organized sports during the course of the school year, not necessarily concurrently. On the BYAI, males had an average score of 13 and females had an average score of 12. Mild to moderate anxiety is represented by a score of 10-18. Students who played 1 sport or less (n=21) had an average TST of 6.5 hours (387 minutes) (335-440 minutes) and students who played more than 1 sport (n=27) had an average TST of 6.6 hours (396 minutes) (range: 323 to 463) (n=27). There was no significant difference between the two groups (p=0.37). There was a mild negative correlation between total number of sports played and the BYAI score in males (r= -0.31).

Conclusion:

These preliminary results stand as a baseline insight into students and their sleeping habits, activity levels, and overall emotional state. The National Sleep Foundation (NSF) recommends 9-11 hours (540-660 minutes) of sleep per night for children 6-13 years. The average sleep time of our student population is significantly below the recommendation of the NSF. The students who played more sports reported more sleep, though not at a significantly higher rate, and males who played fewer sports had a higher anxiety score. At this young age, students are in the early stages of learning their natural abilities in sports, creating skills to excel in academic and physical performance, and are starting to go through physical development and maturation. Students are still playing sports for enjoyment and reporting anxiety at a minimal level. Over the next 5 years, we hope to look at trends and identify internal and external factors that impact sleep, cognitive functioning, athletic performance and mental health.