0193 SPRINT ABILITY AND REACTION TIME FOLLOWING A 2-HOUR NAP IN SOCCER PLAYERS.

Athletes may use daytime napping to supplement their night time sleep; however the time to optimal performance after waking from a nap is not known. The aim of this study was to examine sprint ability and reaction time at 30, 60, 90 and 120 minutes after waking from a daytime nap. Twelve well-trained soccer players (18.3 ± 1.0 years) completed two conditions in a randomised order. In one condition, participants had nine hours time in bed (22:00-07:00h) without napping the next day, and in the other condition participants had seven hours time in bed (00:00-07:00h) with a two-hour nap the next day (14:00-16:00h). Sleep was assessed using polysomnography. Each day, participants completed four 30-minute test sessions (every 30 min starting at 16:15h) that included a seven-minute warm up, two 10-metre sprints, and a 90-second reaction time task. Total sleep time was compared between conditions using a paired t-test. The effect of condition (no nap vs. nap) and test session (30, 60, 90, 120 min) on fastest sprint, and mean reaction time were assessed by separate repeated ANOVAs. Total sleep time was similar between conditions (no nap 8.1 ± 0.7 h vs. nap 8.0 ± 1.0 h, p=0.87). There was a main effect of test session (p=0.02) on reaction time, but no effect of condition (p=0.84) and no interaction between condition and session (p=0.26). Reaction time was faster at 120 minutes (211.3 ± 20.0 ms) vs. 30 minutes (219.5 ± 20.5 ms, p=0.01) and 60 minutes (219.8 ± 20.8 ms, p=0.01). There were no main effects of condition (p=0.17) or time (p=0.37), and no interaction between condition and session (p=0.84) on sprint ability. Based on these data sprint ability and reaction time are not inhibited by a daytime nap in the afternoon. Athletes may perform sprint and reaction time tasks within 30 minutes of waking from an afternoon nap. Time of day or previous exercise completed may influence reaction time. This study received funding from Central Queensland University and the Australian Institute of Sport.