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Sleep Characteristics and Mood of Professional Esports Athletes: A Multi-National Study

Author

Listed:
  • Sangha Lee

    (Department of Psychology, Sungshin Women’s University, Seoul 02844, Korea
    The first and second author contributed equally to this study.)

  • Daniel Bonnar

    (College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5042, Australia
    The first and second author contributed equally to this study.)

  • Brandy Roane

    (UNT Health Science Centre, Department of Physiology and Anatomy, University of North Texas, Fort Worth, TX 76107, USA)

  • Michael Gradisar

    (College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5042, Australia)

  • Ian C. Dunican

    (Centre for Sleep Science, School of Human Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia)

  • Michele Lastella

    (Appleton Institute for Behavioral Science, Central Queensland University, Adelaide, SA 5034, Australia)

  • Gemma Maisey

    (School of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Perth, WA 6027, Australia)

  • Sooyeon Suh

    (Department of Psychology, Sungshin Women’s University, Seoul 02844, Korea)

Abstract

Esports is becoming increasingly professionalized, yet research on performance management is remarkably lacking. The present study aimed to investigate the sleep and mood of professional esports athletes. Participants were 17 professional esports athletes from South Korea ( N = 8), Australia ( N = 4), and the United States ( N = 5) who played first person shooter games (mean age 20 ± 3.5 years, 100% male). All participants wore a wrist-activity monitor for 7–14 days and completed subjective sleep and mood questionnaires. Participants had a median total sleep time of 6.8 h and a sleep efficiency of 86.4% per night. All participants had significantly delayed sleep patterns (median sleep onset 3:43 a.m. and wake time 11:24 a.m.). Participants had a median sleep onset latency of 20.4 min and prolonged wake after sleep onset of 47.9 min. Korean players had significantly higher depression scores compared to the other groups ( p < 0.01) and trained longer per day than the Australian or United States teams (13.4 vs. 4.8 vs. 6.1 h, respectively). Depression scores were strongly correlated with number of awakenings, wake after sleep onset, and daily training time ( p < 0.05). As the first pilot sleep study in the esports field, this study indicates that esports athletes show delayed sleep patterns and have prolonged wake after sleep onset. These sleep patterns may be associated with mood (depression) and training time. Sleep interventions designed specifically for esports athletes appear warranted.

Suggested Citation

  • Sangha Lee & Daniel Bonnar & Brandy Roane & Michael Gradisar & Ian C. Dunican & Michele Lastella & Gemma Maisey & Sooyeon Suh, 2021. "Sleep Characteristics and Mood of Professional Esports Athletes: A Multi-National Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-14, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:2:p:664-:d:480318
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Daniel Bonnar & Sangha Lee & Brandy M. Roane & Daniel J. Blum & Michal Kahn & Eunhee Jang & Ian C. Dunican & Michael Gradisar & Sooyeon Suh, 2022. "Evaluation of a Brief Sleep Intervention Designed to Improve the Sleep, Mood, and Cognitive Performance of Esports Athletes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-15, March.
    2. Yinhao Shen & Antonio Cicchella, 2023. "Health Consequences of Intensive E-Gaming: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-10, January.

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