Beneficial effect of napping on mood and cognitive performance in adolescent athletes

Abstract

Adolescent athletes often experience chronic sleep deprivation, impairing mood, cognitive and athletic performance. While napping benefits adults, its effects in adolescent athletes remain unclear. We examined whether a 60-min nap (NAP) improves mood, attention, and declarative learning in 12 male adolescent basketball players. They completed two randomized and counterbalanced conditions: NAP and control rest. Mood and subjective sleepiness were assessed in pre- and post-conditions and objective attention was measured after both conditions. Declarative learning was evaluated using word-pair task at baseline and after 4, 8, and 72 h. Objective sleep quality and quantity were measured via actigraphy. Napping enhanced attention (p = 0.006, <i>d</i> = 0.98, Δ=+14.55%) and improved declarative learning at 4 h (p = 0.003, <i>d</i> = 1.09, Δ=+8.40%) and 72 h (p = 0.021, <i>d</i> = 0.78, Δ=+8.95%) retest. Mood parameters, including anxiety (p = 0.002, <i>d</i> = -1.18, Δ = -41.72%), depression (p = 0.041, <i>d</i> = -0.63, Δ = -48.45%), fatigue (p = 0.005, <i>d</i> = -1.02, Δ = -53.84%) and vigour (p = 0.008, <i>d</i> = 0.94, Δ=+37.5%) were enhanced in NAP compared to control condition. Subjective sleepiness decreased significantly in post-nap compared to pre-nap (p = 0.001, <i>d</i> = -1.36, Δ = -32.81%) and to post-rest (p = 0.025, <i>d</i> = -0.75, Δ = -27.11%). No adverse effects on objective subsequent nocturnal sleep were observed. Thus, parents, coaches, and sport scientists could integrate napping into the daily routines of adolescent athletes to optimize both academic and athletic performance.