A preliminary analysis of the associations between external and internal load and sleep variables in a semi-professional, female basketball team

Abstract Objectives To examine the association between external and internal loads encountered during training and games and sleep duration and quality in adult, semi-professional, female basketball players. Design An exploratory, observational, longitudinal study. Methods Seven players from the same team had their external (PlayerLoad [PL] and relative PL [PL·min−1]) and internal load (session-rating of perceived exertion-load [sRPE-load] and percentage of heart rate peak [%HRpeak]) monitored across pre-season training, in-season training, and games during an entire season. Sleep duration (total sleep time [TST]) and quality (sleep efficiency [SE] and wake after sleep onset [WASO]) were monitored each night using wrist-worn activity monitors. External and internal loads were grouped according to session type as pre-season training, in-season training, and games. The sleep data were grouped as nights immediately following pre-season training, in-season training, or games. Generalized linear mixed models were used for analyses. Results A significant association was observed between external game loads (PL and PL·min−1) and WASO on nights following games (PL: β = − 0.003, 95% confidence intervals [CI] = − 0.005, − 0.002, p < 0.001; PL·min−1: β = − 0.266, 95% CI = − 0.416, − 0.115, p = 0.001). No other significant associations were found between external and internal load and sleep variables. Conclusions While these findings indicate higher external loads during games may partially contribute to lower WASO, these relationships were relatively weak in magnitude with the loads encountered during training and games predominantly lacking associations with sleep among adult, semi-professional, female basketball players.