Optimal amounts of sleep may help protect against injuries in young athletes

Looking for a way to decrease your risk of injury? Get a good night’s sleep! A study published by the Journal of Pediatric Orthopedics found that sleep deprivation appears to be associated with injuries in an adolescent athletic population. The study looked at factors including the number of sports played, the time spent participating in sports, participation in strength training, use of a personal coach for extra training and average amount of sleep per night of student athletes from grades 7 to 12. Their analysis showed that hours of sleep per night was one of the best predictors of injury, with a finding that athletes who slept less than 8 hours per night were 1.7 times more likely to have an injury when compared with athletes who slept for 8 or more hours per night.

The main takeaway from this study is that “encouraging young athletes to get optimal amounts of sleep may help protect them against athletic injuries.”

Read the full article here: http://journals.lww.com/pedorthopaedics/Fulltext/2014/03000/Chronic_Lack_of_Sleep_is_Associated_With_Increased.1.aspx

Reference

Milewski, M. D., Skaggs, D. L., Bishop, G. A., Pace, J. L., Ibrahim, D. A., Wren, T. A., & Barzdukas, A. (2014). Chronic Lack of Sleep is Associated With Increased Sports Injuries in Adolescent Athletes. Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics, 129-133.