Purpose: Anecdotal reports indicate that many elite athletes are dissatisfied with their sleep,
but little is known about their actual sleep requirements. Therefore, the aim of this study was
to compare the self-assessed sleep need of elite athletes with an objective measure of their
habitual sleep duration. Methods: Participants were 175 elite athletes (n= 30 females), age
22.2 (3.8) years (mean [SD]) from 12 individual and team sports. The athletes answered the
question “how many hours of sleep do you need to feel rested?” and they kept a self-report …

Anecdotal reports indicate that many elite athletes are dissatisfied with their sleep, but little is
known about their actual sleep requirements. Therefore, the aim of this study was to
compare the self-assessed sleep need of elite athletes with an objective measure of their
habitual sleep duration. Methods: Participants were 175 elite athletes (n= 30 females), age
22.2 (3.8) years (mean [SD]) from 12 individual and team sports. The athletes answered the
question “how many hours of sleep do you need to feel rested?” and they kept a self-report …