Monitoring Sleep and Heart Rate in Female Soccer Cardiac autonomic function and sleep patterns after training sessions and matches in female soccer players

Abstract

The present thesis aims to investigate the impact of training sessions and official matches performed at different times of the day and in different locations on autonomic cardiac function and sleep patterns of female soccer players from different competitive levels (elite and semi-professional), during competitive in-season and during an international tournament. The first study investigated the sensitivity of nocturnal heart rate variability (HRV) to evaluate the effects of late-night soccer training sessions on nocturnal autonomic cardiac function of semi-professional female players. Although late-night soccer training did not appear to affect slow-wave sleep episodes (SWSE) and "hour-by-hour" HRV indices analysed, the implementation of both methods resulted in reliable HRV measures, suggesting that overnight HRV could be sensitive (i.e., high-internal responsiveness) to training and matches responses in female soccer players. Since in the first study sleep patterns were not quantified using objective methods such as actigraphy, we conducted two additional observational and longitudinal studies, where these methods were included to assess nocturnal HRV and sleep in semi-professional female players. These studies led to the conclusion that the training and match schedule (i.e., night-training sessions and day matches) and match location (i.e., home-matches vs. away-matches) may cause disruption in sleep patterns and/or in autonomic cardiac activity. Finally, and considering the importance of an individualized approach in the analysis of sleep and nocturnal HRV from training and match load, a fourth (with elite female players) and fifth (with semi-professionals female players) studies were conducted focusing on individual HRV and sleep patterns. The results of these studies revealed a substantial individual variation in sleep and HRV, as well in training and match load, information that should be considered when prescribing training sessions and/or matches in women's soccer. The results of the observational analysis of nocturnal cardiac autonomic function, sleep patterns, and training and match load in female soccer players conducted in this thesis may help coaches and clinical practitioners to identify HRV and sleep disorders after training and matches, which may constitute relevant information to individually prescribe training load and playing time in female soccer players.