The relationship between body composition and sleep architecture in athletes

Sleep is essential for athletes to recover physical fitness. It has been suggested that sleep is affected by muscle volume. Compared to female athletes, male athletes with greater muscle volume may have inferior objective sleep quality. This study aimed to assess the relationship between body composition and objective sleep parameters in male and female athletes. The body composition of 17 male and 19 female collegiate athletes were measured, and they underwent overnight home sleep monitoring. Compared with female athletes, male athletes had more muscle mass and less fat mass. Moreover, male athletes had lower sleep efficiency, longer sleep onset latency, higher arousal index, less rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, and lower percentage of slow-wave (N3) sleep in the initial non-REM sleep. Furthermore, the percentage of muscle mass was inversely related, whereas fat mass or percentage of fat mass was directly related to the percentage of N3 sleep in the initial non-REM sleep. Overall, there were no significant association between sex and sleep parameters. However, a significant correlation was found within both subgroups. Objective sleep quality was suggested to be worse in male athletes than in female athletes, implying that sleep architecture may be related to the muscle volume. •Sleep is essential for athletes to recover their physical fitness.•Objective sleep quality was worse in male athletes than in female athletes.•Muscle mass was related to N3 sleep in initial sleep cycle.•Sleep in athletes with greater muscle volume will be disturbed.