Investigating the sleep habits in individual and team-sport athletes using the athlete sleep behaviour questionnaire and the Pittsburgh sleep quality index.

Objectives: There is limited large-scale data on maladaptive sleep practices in elite adult athletes and their influence on sleep characteristics. This study aimed to identify differences in sleep behaviours between individual and team-sport athletes using two sleep questionnaires. Methods: 407 (237 male, 170 female) elite adult athletes across sixteen sports (9 individual-sports, 7 teamsports) completed the Athlete Sleep Behavior Questionnaire (ASBQ) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Results: Individual-sport athletes reported greater total sleep time and higher sleep efficiency than team-sport athletes (p < 0.05, d = 0.28-0.29). There were no differences between global scores for the PSQI, however, there was a difference between global scores for the ASBQ as well as multiple individual items from both questionnaires (p < 0.05), indicating poorer behaviours in team-sport athletes. Discussion: Team-sport athletes displayed more maladaptive pre-sleep behaviours and poorer sleep characteristics than individual-sport athletes.