Effect of Sleep Extension in Prevention to Sleep Deprivation

The approach of a competition can be associated to a decrease in sleep duration and quality which can negatively impact athlete's performance and health (injury risk, fall, accident). Ultra-endurance competitions even involve partial and/or total sleep deprivation over one or several nights. Studied investigating this question suggest that endurance performance under sleep deprivation is altered, mainly because of an effect on the rate of perceived exertion (RPE), which regulates effort intensity. One of the methods used by athletes to limit the impact of sleep deprivation in competition is to implement sleep extension in the days prior to a competition. However, few studies have investigated the impact of sleep deprivation et its reproducibility on performance and fatigue during a prolonged running exercise, as well as the efficiency of prior sleep extension. The importance of such a preventive measure might also depend on individual resistance to sleep deprivation, which is variable between persons and could have genetic determinants. This aspect remains under-studied, particularly regarding the impact of sleep deprivation on physical performance. Therefore, this study aims at investigating the effects of sleep deprivation and prior sleep extension on prolonged duration performance.