The Effects of Individualised Short-term Sleep Restriction on Tactical Performance

NCT06912256 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: CEFADE 9 2023
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 16
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The goal was to evaluate the influence that chronic sleep restriction may have on football players tactical performance during small-sided games. By using a relative sleep restriction (i.e., by reducing the normal sleep duration by 15%) instead of an absolute sleep restriction (e.g., 3-4 hours), different sleep schedules were applied, according to the players individual sleep profile. It was hypothesized that the player's performance would be impaired, particularly their tactical behaviors when performing a 4x4 small-sided game format.

Conditions

Sleep Restriction

Keywords

sleep restriction; performance; tactical; small-sided games; soccer

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Game Performance Assessment Instrument (GPAI)

  According to study purposes, tactical performance was defined as the main variables. Tactical analysis was performed using the Game Performance Assessment Instrument (GPAI), a tool designed to evaluate the individual tactical behavior (Memmert \& Harvey, 2008; Oslin, Mitchell, \& Griffin, 1998). It consists of seven components, two of which are evaluated when the player has the ball and the remaining five when the player does not have the ball possession. For example, decisions made about what to do with the ball during the game, and motor skill execution were classified as appropriate/efficient or inappropriate/inefficient. The main index proposed by Oslin et al. (1998) was calculated: Game Performance (GP). Based on actions deemed appropriate or inappropriate, the final score can range from 0 to 100%, with higher values denoting better outcomes.

  Applied once in week 1 and once again in week 2

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Sleep efficiency

  Collected daily during the two weeks of the intervention

Study Arms (2)

Sleep restriction

EXPERIMENTAL

During the intervention period (i.e., 9 consecutive days), the intervention group started the sleep protocol, sleeping only the quantity of hours defined for their individual chronic partial sleep restriction (15% of usual daily sleep hours). The amount and quality of sleep obtained were daily monitored through actigraphy devices, and all the players filled in a sleep diary when they woke up. During this period, players performed the SSGs in two different moments (moment 1 and moment 2), interspersed by 4 days.

Behavioral: Sleep restriction

Controls

NO INTERVENTION

Same intervention (i.e., soccer training and tests) as the other arm, but with no sleep restriction.

Interventions

Sleep restriction BEHAVIORAL

During the intervention period (i.e., 9 consecutive days), the intervention group started the sleep protocol, sleeping only the quantity of hours defined for their individual chronic partial sleep restriction (15% of the usual sleep time). The amount and quality of sleep obtained were daily monitored through actigraphy devices, and all the players filled in a sleep diary when they woke up. During this period, players performed the SSGs in two different moments (moment 1 and moment 2), interspersed by 4 days.

Sleep restriction

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: Up to 19 Years
• Sex: male
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Soccer players classified as Tier 3, corresponding to the National Level in accordance to McKay et al. (2022), as they represented the under-19 team playing in the Portuguese National Championship 1st Division.

You may not qualify if:

• \) players with previously identified sleep disorders;
• \) players with injuries that prevented them from playing SSGs.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• José Afonso Coelho Neves: lead

Study Sites (1)

Faculty of Sport, University of Porto

Porto, Porto District, 4200-450, Portugal

Location

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Supervisor of the lead author's Master Thesis

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 23, 2025
• First Posted: April 4, 2025
• Study Start: May 1, 2023
• Primary Completion: May 31, 2023
• Study Completion: December 31, 2023
• Last Updated: April 4, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-03

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

PT (1)