Evolution of Research on Elite Adult Athlete Sleep: A Systematic Review

To describe the evolution of research on elite adult athlete sleep. A systematic literature review was performed in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Sport Discus databases. Studies where sleep was the main variable and included only elite (national or international level), healthy (no injury or any pathology), and adult athletes were included for analysis. Only articles published in the English language were considered. After analyzing all inclusion and exclusion criteria, 50 studies were included. A continental disparity in publications was observed, with a concentration of studies in Oceania and Europe. A total of 2964 athletes were observed, mostly men, and the most studied modality was soccer. As of 2015, actigraphy became the most used method to monitor sleep in athletes, followed by questionnaires and sleep diaries. At no other historical moment has the sleep of the elite adult athlete been so inserted in the scientific area. Elite adult athlete sleep research is an expanding area in sports science and factors such as the elite athlete’s gender and modality, as well as the publication’s instruments and geographic location, will contribute to filling the knowledge gaps in this theme.