Deliberate Recovery: Exploring the Relationship Between Sleep and Expertise in Athletes

The balance between training stress and recovery is essential in the pursuit of athletic performance; however, characteristics of recovery use among experts have been understudied. This thesis explored deliberate recovery in athletes by examining the relationship between expertise and sleep, a biologically necessary form of recovery. Over a 14-day period, 43 athletes recorded their sleep quantity, quality, and training load. A follow-up questionnaire assessed sleep chronotype and categorized athletes into three skill groups. Elite and pre-elite athletes reported sleeping significantly longer than non-elite athletes, starting significantly earlier in the night. In contrast, elite athletes reported significantly worse sleep quality than both pre- and non-elite athletes, with several possible explanations proposed for this deficit. Results indicate that sleep plays a greater role with higher-skilled athletes, supporting the idea of a differential use of recovery according to athlete expertise and encouraging further replication and exploration of the concept of deliberate recovery.