Sleep Complaints in Italian Olympic and Recreational Athletes
in Journal of Clinical Sport PsychologyClick name to view affiliation
The aim of the study was to evaluate sleep complaints in two groups of subjects all involved in sport but differing with respect to their level of commitment and weekly amount of practice. The first group was composed of 103 elite Italian Olympic athletes. The second group consisted of 198 recreational athletes, divided into two subsets on the basis of their self-reported habitual weekly amount of exercise. Subjects were requested to complete a short questionnaire (SDQ) assessing the presence and intensity of sleep disorders according to DSM-IV-TR and ICSD-2 criteria. A logistic regression was carried out to assess any differences in sleep disorders between Olympic and recreational athletes. The Olympic athletes were more likely to show no sleep disorders and less likely to show chronic or occasional sleep disorders as compared to both the other groups of athletes. No differences were found between the two subsets of recreational athletes.
The authors are with the Dept of Psychology, University of Rome “La Sapienza,” Italy. E-mail: fabio.lucidi@uniromal.it
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