Effectiveness of progressive muscle relaxation on sleep disturbance in athletes

Background: Athletes have general complaints about sleep disturbance which is important for body recovery, healthy brain and body functions, tissue wear and tear, and the body's immune system. Objective: To determine the effectiveness of Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) on sleep disturbance in athletes. Methodology: N=24 athletes aged 18 to 36 years participating in a competition were included in a randomized controlled trial. Athletes who were training for a competition, aged between 18 -and 36 years, and athletes with sleep disturbance score (SDS) falling above 4 on the Athletic Sleep Screening Questionnaire were included. Athlete sleep screening questionnaire (ASSQ) was used to assess sleep disturbance score (SDS). Athletes were randomly assigned to the experimental (n=12) and control (n=12) groups. The experimental group was given progressive muscle relaxation and re-assessed the next day for SDS. Results: The pre-post analysis showed that progressive muscle relaxation reduced the athletes' sleep disturbance score significantly one day after the intervention with a large effect size (p=0.006 Cohen's d= 1.44) in the experimental group. The mean of the mean differences of SDS of both groups were compared which showed a group had a significantly improved sleep disturbance score compared to a control group with a large effect size. (Mean= 1.41 ±1.44 v/s 0.00±1.85, p≤ 0.01, Cohen's d= 1.66). Conclusion: Progressive Muscle Relaxation exercises can be a non-pharmacological method to help athletes sleep by simple head-to-toe muscles contract and relax technique.