GIFs can improve the sleep of professional female soccer players

GIFs can improve the sleep of professional female soccer players

A recent study from the University of Kent's School of Natural Sciences found that short animations known as GIFS (graphics exchange format) can improve the sleep of professional footballers.

Poor sleep quality is common among elite athletes, with sleep environment and bedtime often being to blame. Many professional athletes look to sleep trainers to improve their sleep. This can have a big impact on their performance and well-being. However, this new research shows that simpler sleep improvement strategies could actually be adopted.

Dr. Julie Gooderick and her team of researchers worked with professional footballers from the Women's Super League (WSL), the highest level of women's football in England, to assess self-reported sleep hygiene target areas that required improvement in the individuals. Sleep hygiene can be defined as exercise habits that facilitate sleep. GIFs were then designed to give each individual a unique sleep hygiene message. The message was accompanied by an intentionally short text to facilitate a high engagement rate. Messages included “Screens away 30 minutes before bed” and “Replace caffeine drink with non-caffeinated herbal tea or water.”

All participants received their tailored messages daily during a two-week intervention period at a consistent time of 8 p.m., with the intention to complete the sleep hygiene prompt.

After the GIF interventions, the professional soccer players reported improvements in sleep by the end of the nine-week study. Even more impressively, these improvements occurred in the middle of the season, which is usually associated with higher levels of stress for footballers than in the previous season.

Working with professional female athletes for this study allowed us to not only improve their sleep quality, but also identify a new time and resource efficient method for improving sleep.

Initial findings highlight a promising strategy using GIF messages as an individualized intervention for sleep hygiene training. This strategy potentially offers athletic trainers and athletes the opportunity to access specialized advice while sleeping without limiting potential resources or location for themselves and sleep specialists. '

Dr. Julie Gooderick

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