Sleep and Athletic Competitions

This chapter aims to outline sleep before, during, and after sports competitions. Sports competitions can cause stress in two ways: the expected physical stress due to physical exertion and psychological stress related to fear, uncertainty, etc. Questionnaire studies show that athletes often experience reduced sleep before, during, and after a sports competition. However, the extent of sleep problems depends on many factors (e.g., evening games, competition anxiety). Multi-day competitions pose a particular challenge to sleep management. Especially in extreme sports over several days, it becomes clear that impressive performances can be achieved even under sleep deprivation. For sports practice, it is particularly important to observe sleep hygiene measures to optimally design sleep in competition situations.