Sleeping Habits on Performance Following Sleep Deprivation

Can Habitual Sleeping Habits Predict Performance Outcomes Following Sleep Deprivation?

The goal of this randomized crossover clinical trial is to determine if habitual sleeping habits can predict endurance performance following a night of partial sleep deprivation in healthy untrained, recreationally trained, and trained cyclists (18-50 years, ~50% females). The main questions it aims to answer are:

1. Can habitual sleeping habits predict, or do different types of sleepers alter, performance outcomes following sleep deprivation?

2. Does sleep deprivation alter blood pressure, heart rate, or metabolic responses during a 20-minute time trial, and/or are these altered amongst different types of sleepers?

   • Participants will be asked to perform 4 performance tests (20-minute time trial), 2 for familiarization, and 2 testing visits (1 under normal sleep and 1 under partial sleep deprivation).
   • For 1 week prior to each testing visit, sleep will be tracked using an ActiGraph device.

The investigators hypothesize that habitual early sleepers, poor sleepers, those with greater variability in sleep duration, and females will show the greatest impairments in performance following partial sleep deprivation.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Sleep; Athletic Performance; Hemodynamics
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Sleep

Detailed Description

Five separate visits will take place. Participants will be asked to abstain from heavy exercise, napping, alcohol, recreational drugs, and acute supplementation or medication use (i.e., melatonin, antihistamines) 24 hours before each visit. The first visit will always be the introductory visit, which will be followed by two familiarization visits. The next two visits will be testing visits and randomized (one normal sleep visit and one sleep deprivation visit).

Introductory visit: Prior to arriving at the lab, participants will read over and sign the consent form, complete the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), complete the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ), complete a general health questionnaire, and complete the PAR-Q+ remotely. After obtaining consent and upon arriving at the lab, height and weight will be measured. This will be followed by a maximal exercise test to assess peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) on a cycle ergometer. After this, participants will be given a rest period, which will be followed by the completion of a 5-minute time trial so the participant can get familiarized with pushing themselves during the performance test.

Pre-testing: Participants will be equipped with an ActiGraph device to measure sleeping patterns over a 1-week time frame prior to each testing visit as well as the night prior to each familiarization visit. These data will then be used to determine each participant's sleep-wake schedule for the testing visits. Furthermore, the day prior to each familiarization visit and testing visit, participants will be asked to complete a food diary using an online app (MyFitnessPal), which will ask participants to list the ingredients and quantity of each ingredient consumed for each meal and beverage that day, night and subsequent day. Participants will be asked to abstain from food for 4 hours upon arriving at the lab, prior to each familiarization and testing visit.

Familiarization visits: Upon lab arrival, participants will be provided with a standardized snack, which includes instant Quaker oats mixed with water. The amount will be based on body weight (1 gram of carbohydrates per body weight in kilograms). Following this, the participant will complete a 20-minute time trial on a cycle ergometer.

Testing visits: Upon lab arrival, participants will lay supine quietly, and resting hemodynamic measurements (blood pressure and heart rate) will commence. Following this, participants will consume the same standardized snack as the familiarization visit, and then a 20-minute time trial on a cycle ergometer.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 22
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Canada
  • Ontario
    • Guelph, Ontario, Canada, N1G2W1
      • University of Guelph - Human Cardiovascular Physiology Laboratory

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Ages 18-50 years
• Free of known cardiovascular or metabolic diseases or sleep disorders
• No history of smoking (within the past 3 months)
• Able to engage in physical activity assessed through the physical activity readiness questionnaire (PAR-Q+) (answer no to all questions
• No prescription of chronic medications other than oral contraceptives
• Able to abide by sleep protocols for all visits
• Individuals who are able to consume the ingredients of instant oatmeal (whole grain oats, sugar, salt, and natural flavour)
• Individuals who are not pregnant

Exclusion Criteria:

• Ages <18 years, >50
• Individuals diagnosed with cardiovascular or metabolic disease or sleep disorders
• Has a history of smoking (within the past 3 months)
• Not ready to engage in physical activity (answer yes to one or more questions in PAR-Q+)
• Individuals with prescription of chronic medications other than oral contraceptives
• Unable to abide by sleep protocols for any testing visit
• Individuals who are unable to consume the ingredients of instant oatmeal (whole grain oats, sugar, salt, and natural flavour)
• Pregnancy

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Diagnostic
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Sham Comparator: Normal sleep; Participants will be asked to sleep during their normal sleep times prior to this visit	Behavioral: Sleep; Sleep will be restricted to 60% normal sleep duration
Active Comparator: Sleep deprivation; Participants will be asked to go to bed normally but wake up earlier, such that normal sleep duration is restricted by 60%. For example, if someone normally sleeps for 8 hours by falling asleep at 11 pm and waking up at 7 am, they will be asked to fall asleep normally (11 pm) and sleep for 3.2 hours, which results in a wake-up time of 2:12 am.	Behavioral: Sleep; Sleep will be restricted to 60% normal sleep duration

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Performance	Mean power achieved during a 20-minute time trial on a cycle ergometer	During each familiarization visit and testing visit (4 time points total)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Flow-mediated dilation	Absolute and percent dilation of the superficial femoral artery after 5 minutes of blood flow occlusion	During both testing visits (2 time points total)

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure	Resting blood pressure while participant is supine, assessed in 1-minute intervals through an automated oscillometric device and non-invasive, continuous blood pressure (i.e., on a heartbeat-by-beat basis)	During both testing visits (2 time points total)
Resting heart rate	resting heart rate while participant is supine, assessed via ECG	During both testing visits (2 time points total)
Systolic and diastolic blood pressure during exercise	Blood pressure during the VO2peak test, 12-minute warm up, and performance tests, in 2-minute intervals, assessed using an automated oscillometric device	During the introductory visit and during each familiarization visit and testing visit (5 time points total)
Heart rate during exercise	Heart rate during the VO2peak test, 12-minute warm up, and performance tests, on a heartbeat-by-beat basis, assessed using a heart rate monitor	During the introductory visit and during each familiarization visit and testing visit (5 time points total)
Gross efficiency during exercise	Movement efficiency during the 12-minute warm up, prior to the performance tests. This will be calculated using the following formula: (work (J)/energy expenditure (J))*100. Work is calculated as: (watts during the warm up * time) and energy production is determined by the metabolic cart, and will be further broken down into joules by multiplying energy expenditure in kcals by 4184.	During each familiarization visit and testing visit (4 time points total)
Oxygen uptake during exercise	Oxygen uptake during the VO2peak test, 12-minute warm up, and performance tests, assessed on a breath-by-breath basis using a metabolic cart	During the introductory visit and during each familiarization visit and testing visit (5 time points total)
Carbon dioxide production during exercise	Carbon dioxide production during the VO2peak test, 12-minute warm up, and performance tests, assessed on a breath-by-breath basis using a metabolic cart	During the introductory visit and during each familiarization visit and testing visit (5 time points total)
Systolic and diastolic blood pressure during recovery	Three minutes of recovery blood pressure following the performance tests, in 1-minute intervals	During each familiarization visit and testing visit (4 time points total)
Heart rate during recovery	Three minutes of heart rate following the performance tests, on a heartbeat-by-beat basis, assessed using a heart rate monitor	During each familiarization visit and testing visit (4 time points total)
Oxygen uptake during recovery	Three minutes of oxygen uptake following the performance tests, assessed breath-by-breath, using a metabolic cart	During each familiarization visit and testing visit (4 time points total)
Carbon dioxide production during recovery	Three minutes of carbon dioxide production following the performance tests, assessed breath-by-breath, using a metabolic cart	During each familiarization visit and testing visit (4 time points total)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Guelph
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Philip Millar, University of Guelph

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 26, 2023
• Primary Completion (Actual): May 5, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): May 6, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 26, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 5, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): July 12, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): December 6, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 3, 2024
• Last Verified: December 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Sleep quality; Chronotype; Sleep habits; Cycling time trial performance
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Neurologic Manifestations; Nervous System Diseases; Mental Disorders; Sleep Wake Disorders; Dyssomnias; Sleep Deprivation
• Other Study ID Numbers: 23-01-019

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No