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Kent Academic Repository Full text document (pdf) Citation for published version Gilchrist, Sarah L. (2018) The Evolution of the Concept of Sleep and Movement Behaviour to the UK High Performance Sport Industry. Professional Doctorate in Sport, Exercise and Health Science (SportD) thesis, University of Kent,. DOI Link to record in KAR https://kar.kent.ac.uk/72617/ Document Version UNSPECIFIED Copyright & reuse Content in the Kent Academic Repository is made available for research purposes. Unless otherwise stated all content is protected by copyright and in the absence of an open licence (eg Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher, author or other copyright holder. Versions of research The version in the Kent Academic Repository may differ from the final published version. Users are advised to check http://kar.kent.ac.uk for the status of the paper. Users should always cite the published version of record. Enquiries For any further enquiries regarding the licence status of this document, please contact: [email protected] If you believe this document infringes copyright then please contact the KAR admin team with the take-down information provided at http://kar.kent.ac.uk/contact.html The Evolution of the Concept of Sleep and Movement Behaviour to the UK High Performance Sport Industry By Sarah L. Gilchrist A thesis submitted to the University of Kent in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Professional Doctorate in Sport, Exercise and Health Science School of Exercise and Health Sciences University of Kent July 2018 Forward This thesis has been a significant part of my working life for the past five years, but it is much more than that. It is the apotheosis of a career in high performance sport, spanning six Olympic/Paralympic cycles and supporting many athletes to podium success(es). It is to those athletes, past and present, that I partly dedicate this thesis, for without them, my idea for the concept of fatigue management would not have been born, nor would the drive and motivation to pursue it as a valuable tool for practitioners to assist athletes be the best they can be in their chosen sport. I hope through reading this thesis you are left with a sense of what it is to be part of an evolving industry with the eyes of the world upon you and it. The UK high performance industry has transformed itself over the last 20 years and I have been fortunate enough to be right in the heart of that change, the pinnacle being a home Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012. Parallel to this has been my work with British Rowing; one of the most successful Olympic and Paralympic sports in the world. This has been a dream come true and I am humbled to have experienced being part of a world class system for the majority of my career to date. It is from these experiences that this thesis was born. In producing this thesis there are many people to thank, Sport Wales for giving me the chance to grow my career in the first place and to the UK Sport high performance system as a whole for nurturing my career and providing pathways for its development. To Professor Zoe Knowles for her help in my attempts to utilise qualitative methodologies and Professor Louis Passfield for his unending positivity, helpful voice and a valuable co-explorer of London cafes! To my family for always being there, Mum and Dad for their eternal enthusiasm and attempts to understand what it is a Sports Scientist actually does! Without a doubt, the biggest factor in making this thesis a success is my husband, and children, for whom I hope this makes them proud. They are my constant and for whom I strive to be better at what I do. Always. Sarah Gilchrist, July 2018 Declaration Note, no part of this thesis has been submitted in support of an application for any degree or other qualification of the University of Kent, or any other University or Institution of learning. Relevant Accomplishments During the time frame of this thesis I was awarded British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES) practitioner of the year in 2012. I also presentend a prize winning presentation at the 2016 BASES Conference Sleep and movement behaviour characteristics of an international Olympic rowing squad and the influence of domestic living location. For this presentation, I was awarded the Routledge Recently Qualified Researcher Free Communication Presentation Award. Additionally, I have been BASES Accredited since 2000, achieving High Performance Addcreditation and Re-Accreditation in 2012 and 2017. The Evolution of the Concept of Sleep and Movement Behaviour to the UK High Performance Sport Industry Abstract The UK high performance industry has evolved and expanded over the last 20 years. Parallel to this has been an upsurge in the Sports Science industry with contemporary practitioners providing more support to elite athletes in a much more comprehensive and scientific W Takes to W (WITTW) models now form a strategic part of the performance planning process and many factors impact on WITTW variables. Fatigue management, through assessment of sleep and also, associated daytime movement behaviour, is an example of such a factor. I collectively term the assessment of both these Fatigue M. Limited knowledge exists regarding sleep characteristics and movement behaviour of elite athletes. Therefore, I present in this thesis the evolution of the concept of fatigue management practices (through athlete sleep and associated movement behaviour assessment), and show how it has been included in the routine methods of Sports Science and Medicine practitioners. Whilst sleep remains a poorly understood entity there is evidence of a reciprocal relationship between sleep and athletic performance with disturbed sleep having a detrimental effect on psycho-physiological processes. In the absence of an effective fatigue management strategy this can be particularly problematic for elite athletes. A technical description of sleep and associated movement behaviour are presented along with methodologies for fatigue management assessment and details of projects using fatigue management strategies. To add context and insight, subjective findings of the impact of introducing this new concept within UK high performance sports I present that physiologists should assess fatigue management in the elite athletes they support and use this assessment for dialogue with coaches and sports science and medicine peers, to ensure provision of optimal fatigue management strategies in the performance programmes with which they work. Finally, success factors, methods of optimal practice and future recommendations for an effective fatigue management strategy are presented. Pages 267 Word count 55584 Year of submission: 2018 School of Exercise and Health Sciences University of Kent Contents Page Page Overview and Aims 1-3 Chapter Sequence 4-8 Chapter 1 9 1.1 Introduction: why assess sleep and movement behaviour? 9 1.2 High performance sport 11 1.3 What it takes to win 17 1.4 Practitioner background 23 1.4.1 Positionality 23 1.4.2 Professional practice 26 1.4.3 Philosophy 28 1.4.4 Accountability 29 1.5 How did the novel concept of fatigue management begin? 31 1.6 Summary 33 Chapter 2 35 2.1 Introduction: why a qualitative methods approach? 35 2.2 Ethics 35 D 36 2.4 Qualitative methodology 37 2.4.1 Rationale 40 2.4.2 Research questions 41 2.4.3 Participants 42 2.4.4 Ethical compliance 44 2.5 Research protocol 45 2.5.1 Instrument development 45 2.5.2 Pilot 46 2.5.3 Development of interview guide 47 2.5.4 Interview protocol 48 2.5.5 Data handling and representation 49 Chapter 3 52 3.1 Introduction 52 3.2 What is sleep? 53 3.3 Sleep regulation 57 3.3.1 Homeostasis and sleep 57 3.3.2 Circadian rhythm and sleep 58 3.3.3 Arousal systems 59 3.3.4 Automaticity 61 3.3.5 Sleep quality 61 3.4 Architecture of sleep 64 3.5 Movement behaviour 68 3.6 Summary 71 Page Chapter 4 72 4.1 The sleep and athletic performance relationship 72 4.2 Sport science literature and sleep 75 4.2.1 Precipitating factors: training 86 4.2.2 Precipitating factors: travel 93 4.2.3 Precipitating factors: competition 97 4.3 Should we measure sleep? 98 4.4 Technologies 102 4.5 Sleep management strategies 103 4.6 A multidisciplinary approach 106 4.7 Summary 109 Chapter 5 111 5.1 Introduction 111 5.2 Sleep quantity and quality 111 5.3 Quantitative methodologies for sleep quality, quantity 112 and movement behaviour 5.3.1 Sleep measurement and assessment 113 5.3.2 Movement behaviour measurement and assessment 116 5.4 Actigraphy methodology 118 5.5 Subjective assessment of sleep 119 Chapter 6 122 6.1 Introduction 122 6.1.2 Athlete population 123 6.2 Fatigue management pilot work British Rowing 124 6.3 EIS fatigue management research 127 6.4 Dissemination of knowledge 129 6.4.1 EIS Hierarchy of needs and decision tree 134 6.5 Fatigue management projects 139 6.5.1 British Rowing Project 1: A comparison of sleep and waking 141 movement behaviour characteristics of an international Olympic rowing squad in domestic and overseas training environments. 6.5.2 British Rowing Project 2: Living location in relation to a centralised 145 training venue and associated movement behaviour 6.5.3 Additional projects 148 6.5.3.1 Project 3: Olympic preparations 149 6. 5.3.2 Project 4: Subjective reporting of athletic sleep 151 6.6 Impact and learnings: methods of optimal practice to measure 156 and analyse sleep and movement behaviour 6.6.1 Normative data 157 6.6.2 Optimal practice 158 6.6.3 Subjective

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