A new study presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans reveals that teenage athletes who sleep less than eight hours every night were more likely to be injured at school sports compared to those who sleep for more than eight hours.
The researchers observed around 112 students at Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles, with the average age of the participants being 15.
The researchers found that around 57 percent of the athletes suffered injuries in the 21 months that the study was conducted. On questioning the students about their sleeping habits, the researchers found that the risk of sports injuries reduced by almost 68 percent among students who slept for more than eight hours every night.
"Adolescent athletes may benefit from additional sleep as they get older. We'd like injury prevention programs to focus on sleep education. While other studies have shown that lack of sleep can affect cognitive skills and fine motor skills, nobody has really looked at this subject in terms of the adolescent athletic population", lead researcher Matthew Milewski said.