Sleep and performance across the lifespan. What is known about athlete requirements from children to adults and future direction: a narrative review

de Mello, MT, Gallagher, C ORCID: 0000-0002-0712-4482, de Carvalho Guerreiro, R, da Silva, FR, Katrovyevysky Costa Castro, B, da Silva Cruz, AÂ, Silva Cavalcante, GT, Caetano Schuchter, CM, Stieler, E, Edwards, BJ ORCID: 0000-0001-8913-0941 and Silva, A (2025) Sleep and performance across the lifespan. What is known about athlete requirements from children to adults and future direction: a narrative review. Biological Rhythm Research, 56 (11). pp. 769-787. ISSN 0929-1016

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Abstract

Sleep is fundamental for health and wellbeing. Throughout our lifespan sleep requirements change due to alterations in our endogenous circadian rhythm and exogenous environment factors. Athletes demand for sleep is greater compared to general population and it is important to consider age specific guidelines for children, adolescents, adult and older adult athletes. However, sleep requirements in children and adolescent athletes is sparce. Further, adolescent athletes have additional stressors such as school and biological demands for sleep such as growth and maturation. Daily sleep demand and quality can be influenced by individual factors as well as the environment. Therefore, we aim to discuss the importance of sleep, the differences in sleep needs across the lifespan. We will then consider how this may be influenced by activity level and the impact of sleep on health and performance. Lastly, we provide possible interventions and future directions for research across the three age groups.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Elite sport; rhythm disturbance; sleep loss; sleep restriction; aging; 31 Biological Sciences; 3102 Bioinformatics and Computational Biology; Aging; Sleep Research; Pediatric Research Initiative; Behavioral and Social Science; Neurosciences; Generic health relevance; 3 Good Health and Well Being; 0601 Biochemistry and Cell Biology; 1116 Medical Physiology; Physiology; 3102 Bioinformatics and computational biology
Subjects:	R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC1200 Sports Medicine G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure > GV561 Sports
Divisions:	Sport and Exercise Sciences
Publisher:	Taylor and Francis
Date of acceptance:	13 May 2025
Date of first compliant Open Access:	6 August 2026
Date Deposited:	06 Aug 2026 13:02
Last Modified:	06 Aug 2026 13:02
DOI or ID number:	10.1080/09291016.2025.2508808
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/29118

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