Identifying electronic-sport athletes’ sleep-wake cycle characteristics

ABSTRACT

Organized electronic-sport competitions (e-Sport) is related to several health problems, including sleep disorders. The objective of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of the sleep-wake cycle of League of Legends (LoL) athletes during their pre-training, training, pre-competition, and competition routines. Twenty male elite LoL players completed the questionnaires related to sleep pattern (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), sleepiness (Epworth Sleepiness Scale), and chronotype (Morningness–Eveningness Questionnaire), and they wore an actigraph for 7 days. Pre-training and pre-competition assessments were carried out by questionnaires (n = 20) and training and competition assessments by actigraph (n = 16). The chronotype that most Eathletes presented was a moderately evening type. They presented a poor sleep quality and were borderline for excessive daytime sleepiness. Sleep onset and offset times were significantly prolonged during the competition condition (t = 2.11, p < .05; t = 2.51, p < .05). Correlations showed a relationship between PSQI and Sleepiness in the pre-training and pre-competition conditions (r = 0.50, p = .02) and chronotype with sleep onset (r = 0.61, p = .01), total sleep time (r = 0.55, p = .02), and time awake (r = 0.49, p = .04) in the competition condition. Linear regression analysis indicated associations between the PSQI and sleepiness (25%; p = .02) during pre-training and pre-competition. During the competition there were associations between chronotype and sleep onset (37%; p = .01), chronotype and time awake (24%; p = .04), and chronotype and TST (30%; p = .02). In general, the findings support the conclusion that LoL athletes presented an altered sleep pattern during their training routines.

KEYWORDS:

• e-Sport
• sleep-wake cycle
• sleepiness
• Eathletes
• actigraphy
• chronotype

Acknowledgements

We thank the Laboratório de Sono e Exercício Físico (LASEF) and the Centro de Estudos em Psicobiologia e Exercício (CEPE).

Declaration of interest

The author(s) declared that there were no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship or the publication of this article.

Author contributions

AME, FVN, and MTM designed the study; MAG collected the data; AME and FNV analyzed the data and drafted the manuscript; all authors contributed to the revision of the manuscript and approved the final manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo [FAPESP - 2017/09316-1].