Deconstructing athletes’ sleep: A systematic review of the influence of age,sex, athletic expertise,sport type,and season on sleep characteristics

PurposeThis systematic review aimed to describe objective sleep parameters for athletes under different conditions and address potential sleep issues in this specific population.MethodsPubMed and Scopus were searched from inception to April 2019. Included studies measured sleep only via objective evaluation tools such as polysomnography or actigraphy. The modified version of the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale was used for the quality assessment of the studies.ResultsEighty-one studies were included, of which 56 were classified as medium quality, 5 studies as low quality, and 20 studies as high quality. A total of 1830 athletes were monitored over 18,958 nights. Average values for sleep-related parameters were calculated for all athletes according to sex, age, athletic expertise level, training season, and type of sport. Athletes slept on average 7.2 ± 1.1 h/night (mean ± SD), with 86.3% ± 6.8% sleep efficiency (SE). In all datasets, the athletes’ mean total sleep time was <8 h. SE was low for young athletes (80.3% ± 8.8%). Reduced SE was attributed to high wake after sleep onset rather than sleep onset latency. During heavy training periods, sleep duration and SE were on average 36 min and 0.8% less compared to pre-season and 42 min and 3.0% less compared to in-season training periods, respectively.ConclusionAthletes’ sleep duration was found to be short with low SE, in comparison to the general consensus for non-athlete healthy adults. Notable sleep issues were revealed in young athletes. Sleep quality and architecture tend to change across different training periods.     

Applying Standardized Testing to Home-Based Education Programs: Reasonable or Customary?

The author seeks to identify sources of current misutilization of standardized tests in assessing the quality of home-based educational programs and notes some limitations of current Instruments to perform such assessments. Me suggests that both new instruments and the cooperation of concerned groups will be needed in the pursuit of increased educational alternatives, excellence, and accountability.     

Home on the electronic range: bringing the Journal of Animal Science online

This article describes why the American Society of Animal Science decided to make the Journal of Animal Science available online, some of the issues that were considered before and during the project, and the responses of those who use the electronic journal. The article also contains discussions of new additions to our electronic offerings and the challenge of granting library access to electronic publications. Based on feedback received from American Society of Animal Science members, our online endeavors have been well received, and members perceive these offerings as an important enhancement of membership services.     

Teacher learning on problem-solving teams

Problem-solving teams address student difficulties. Teams comprised of teachers, specialists, and administrators identify the student problem, develop individualized interventions, and assess student change. Teacher experiences of teams are understudied. In a prospective, mixed-method study conducted in the United States, 34 teachers were followed through the team process. Interview coding showed that 60% of teachers reported they gained new intervention skills. Yet, 40% of teachers reported no professional benefits. Logistic regression showed that differences in teacher learning were partially explained by teachers' negative or positive expectations at the outset of the team. The expectancy effects have implications for teacher professional development.     

冬奥会五大难忘时刻

悲剧赛道 这一悲伤时刻将永远笼罩着温哥华冬奥会.2月12日,就在开幕式开始前的几个小时,诺达尔·库玛丽塔什维利,一位来自格鲁吉亚的单人雪橇运动员,在训练中通过惠斯勒赛道的最后一个弯道时,撞上赛道内墙,突然弹出,撞上了赛迫外的钢柱,后不治身亡,年仅21岁.