Media Release
January 17 2007
Elite athletes tested between the sheets
The road isn’t the only place where elite cyclists competing in the
Tour Down Under should be worried about performance. For two teams
taking part this year, how well they sleep at the end of each race day
is being tested to assess if it has an impact on race performance.
“These are some of the best athletes in Australia and the chance to
study them while they’re at the height of competition is an amazing
opportunity,” says
Dr Greg Roach from UniSA’s Centre for Sleep Research.
“While we know sleep has a huge impact on pretty much everything we do,
very little research has been done on how it affects elite athletes and
this will be one of the first studies to look at top athletes in
competition.”
A collaborative venture with the Australian Institute of Sport, the
study is part of a new project looking at the sleep and performance of
elite athletes in the lead-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“Sleep is one of the most important aspects of an athlete’s recovery and
it certainly impacts on performance,” explains Dr Shona Halson, a senior
physiologist and Director of the new Recovery Centre at the Australian
Institute of Sport.
“The more we know, the more we can try and maximise the performance of
our athletes in competition.”
Tour Down Under teams UniSA-Australia and SA.com/AIS are taking part in
the study along with last year’s race winner, Simon Gerrans, and the
“voice” of international cycling, Phil Liggett. The cyclists and a
control group (made up of Liggett and those traveling with the teams)
will be wearing activity monitors. They’re special wrist watches that
detect movement and will help determine how much sleep the cyclists are
getting compared with the control group.
“What you’re doing affects your sleep and how you sleep affects what you
do,” explains Dr Roach. This will help us understand what happens to
sleep during elite competition.”
“It will be interesting to see what transpires as the cyclists get more
fatigued,” adds Dr Halson. “Will they get more sleep or less sleep? The
answer could be huge for Australian sport.”
Media contact
-
Tess van Straaten mobile 0412 102 662
email tess.vanstraaten@unisa.edu.au
or Peter Logue, Australian Institute of Sport mobile 0402 067 614
email Peter.Logue@ausport.gov.au