Sleep health and its association with performance and motivation in tactical athletes enrolled in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps

Abstract Objective To examine habitual sleep health and investigate how habitual sleep duration impacts performance and motivation in Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) tactical athletes. Design Observational. Setting A large, state university. Participants Fifty-four young tactical athletes enrolled in ROTC. Measurements Participants wore wrist actigraph devices and completed sleep diaries for 7 days prior to completing a cognitive/motor test battery. Results The mean objective total sleep time of the participants was 6.17 ± 0.69 hours, with only 7.4% of participants averaging ≥7 hours of sleep per day. A mean sleep quality rating between “Poor” and “Fair” was reported by 22.2% of participants. The mean Epworth Sleepiness Scale rating was 8.80 ± 3.24, with 27.8% of participants reporting scores >10. Controlling for age and gender, the average objective total sleep duration was significantly associated with performance on the Symbol Digit Modalities Test ( P  = .026) and with motivation levels to perform the cognitive/motor battery ( P  = .016), but not with performance on the Psychomotor Vigilance Test, Flanker task, Trail Making Test, or Standing Broad Jump. Conclusions ROTC tactical athletes habitually sleep less than the recommended 7 hours per day with roughly one-fourth reporting excessive daytime sleepiness and one-fifth reporting poor sleep quality, which may increase their risk for future adverse health outcomes. Longer sleep durations were associated with higher motivation levels and better cognitive processing speed performance; however, they were not associated with executive function, psychomotor vigilance, or broad jump performance.