Does self-perceived sleep reflect sleep estimated via activity monitors in professional rugby league athletes?

ABSTRACT

This study examined agreement between self-perceived sleep and sleep estimated via activity monitors in professional rugby league athletes. 63 athletes, from three separate teams wore actigraphy monitors for 10.3 ± 3.9 days. During the monitoring period, ratings of perceived sleep quality (on a 1–5 and 1–10 Likert scale), and an estimate of sleep duration were recorded daily. Agreement between sleep estimated via activity monitors and self-perceived sleep was examined using mean bias, Pearson correlation (r) and typical error of the estimate (TEE). 641 nights of sleep were recorded, with a very large, positive correlation observed between sleep duration estimated via activity monitors and subjective sleep duration (r = 0.85), and a TEE of 48 minutes. Mean bias revealed subjective sleep duration overestimated sleep by an average of 19.8 minutes. The relationship between sleep efficiency estimated via activity monitors and self-perceived sleep quality on a 1–5 (r = 0.22) and 1–10 Likert scale (r = 0.28) was limited. The outcomes of this investigation support the use of subjective measures to monitor sleep duration in rugby league athletes when objective means are unavailable. However, practitioners should be aware of the tendency of athletes to overestimate sleep duration.

KEYWORDS:

• Sleep duration
• team sport
• recovery
• self-report

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to extend their gratitude to athletes and staff of the Brisbane Broncos, New Zealand Warriors, and Melbourne Storm for their assistance with this research, particularly Dr. Grant Duthie. The corresponding author is supported through an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.