作者
Rónán Doherty, Sharon Madigan, Alan Nevill, Giles Warrington, Jason Gordon Ellis
发表日期
2023/5/11
期刊
Nutrients
卷号
15
期号
10
页码范围
2274
出版商
MDPI
简介
Background
Poor sleep and resultant under-recovery can negatively impact training adaptations, increase the risk of injury and reduce subsequent performance. Due to the ‘food first’ approach adopted by many athletes, there is scope for investigation of ‘functional food’ based interventions (i.e., kiwifruit contains melatonin which plays a role in circadian rhythm regulation) designed to promote athlete recovery and/or enhance sleep quality and quantity.
Methods
Following the baseline assessment (Week 1) all subjects began the intervention (Weeks 2–5). During the 4-week intervention, participants were asked to consume 2 medium-sized green kiwifruit (Actinidia Deliciosa) an hour before bed. Participants completed a questionnaire battery at baseline and post-intervention, and a daily sleep dairy for the duration of the study.
Results
The results demonstrated a positive impact of kiwifruit consumption on key aspects of sleep and recovery in elite athletes. From baseline to post-intervention, there were clinically significant improvements in sleep quality (i.e., improved PSQI global scores and sleep quality component scores) and improvements in recovery stress balance (reduced general stress and sports stress scales). Moreover, the intervention improved sleep as evidenced by significant increases in total sleep time and sleep efficiency % and significant reductions in number of awakenings and wake after sleep onset.
Conclusion
The findings broadly suggested that kiwifruit does impact positively on sleep and recovery in elite athletes.
引用总数
学术搜索中的文章