One night of sleep restriction following heavy exercise impairs 3-km cycling time-trial performance in the morning

• Published in: Applied physiology, nutrition, and metabolism Vol. 42; no. 9; pp. 909 - 915
• Main Authors: Chase, John D, Roberson, Paul A, Saunders, Michael J, Hargens, Trent A, Womack, Christopher J, Luden, Nicholas D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Canada NRC Research Press 01.09.2017; Canadian Science Publishing NRC Research Press
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Athletes; Athletic Performance; Bicycling; Complications and side effects; Cycling; cyclisme; ergolytic; ergolytique; Exercise; exercise recovery; Exercise Tolerance; Female; High-Intensity Interval Training - adverse effects; Humans; insuffisance de sommeil; Male; Muscle Strength; Muscle Strength Dynamometer; Muscle, Skeletal - physiopathology; Myalgia - etiology; performance au contre-la-montre; Physiological aspects; Recreation; restriction de sommeil; récupération après un exercice; Severity of Illness Index; Sleep; Sleep deprivation; Sleep Deprivation - physiopathology; sleep impairment; sleep restriction; time trial performance; Torque; Young Adult; United States; Canada; ergolytic; ergolytique; sleep impairment; insuffisance de sommeil; time trial performance; restriction de sommeil; sleep restriction; cyclisme; cycling; récupération après un exercice; performance au contre-la-montre; exercise recovery
• ISSN: 1715-5312; 1715-5320
• DOI: 10.1139/apnm-2016-0698

The goal of this project was to examine the influence of a single night of sleep restriction following heavy exercise on cycling time-trial (TT) performance and skeletal muscle function in the morning. Seven recreational cyclists (age, 24 ± 7 years; peak oxygen consumption, 62 ± 4 mL·kg −1 ·min −1 ) completed 2 phases, each comprising evening (EX1) and next-morning (EX2) exercise sessions. EX1 and EX2 were separated by an assigned sleep condition: a full night of rest (CON; 7.1 ± 0.3 h of sleep) or sleep restriction through early waking (SR; 2.4 ± 0.2 h). EX1 comprised baseline testing (muscle soreness, isokinetic torque, and 3-km TT performance) followed by heavy exercise that included 60 min of high-intensity cycling intervals and resistance exercise. EX2 was performed to assess recovery from EX1 and included all baseline measures. Magnitude-based inferences were used to evaluate all variables. SR had a negative effect (very likely) on the change in 3-km TT performance compared with CON. Specifically, 3-km TT performance was ‘very likely’ slower during EX2 compared with EX1 following SR (−4.0% ± 3.0%), whereas 3-km TT performance was ‘possibly’ slower during EX2 (vs. EX1) following CON (−0.5% ± 3.0%). Sleep condition did not influence changes in peak torque or muscle soreness from EX1 to EX2. A single night of sleep restriction following heavy exercise had marked consequences on 3-km TT performance the next morning. Because occasional sleep loss is likely, strategies to ameliorate the consequences of sleep loss on performance should be investigated.