Optimal Total Sleep Duration per Day to Maintain Health-Related Quality of Life in Male Collegiate Athletes:A Cross-Sectional Study

Purpose This study investigated the optimal total sleep duration per day required by collegiate athletes to maintain the physical and mental health-related quality of life(HRQOL),compared with non-athlete students.Methods In this cross-sectional study,a questionnaire survey was conducted to assess demographic variables,lifestyle and sleep habits,and HRQOL in 392 collegiate students(non-athletes,n=174;athletes,n=218).Physical component summary(PCS)and mental component summary(MCS)were assessed using the short-form-8 health survey.Participants with both good PCS and MCS were defined as having a good HRQOL.To confirm an association between the total sleep duration per day and good HRQOL,logistic regression analyses were conducted in non-athlete students and collegiate athletes separately.Subsequently,receiver-operating curve(ROC)analyses were performed for the detection of the cut-off point of total sleep duration per day sufficient to maintain a good HRQOL.Results The average total sleep duration per day was 7 h 19 min for collegiate athletes,and 78.9%of them had a worse PCS.The cut-off point of total sleep duration per day to maintain good HRQOL for collegiate athletes was 7.92 h(area under ROC,0.64;P=0.038;sensitivity,75.4%;specificity,57.9%),which was longer than 6.79 h for non-athlete students.Conclusion Collegiate athletes required longer nocturnal sleep than non-athlete students.Nevertheless,their habitual nocturnal sleep duration was shorter compared to their optimal duration;around 70%of them faced chronic insufficient sleep.Improving sleep habits and sleep education is important in maintaining their good health-related quality of life.