Evening electronic device use and sleep patterns in athletes

The present study aimed to investigate pre-sleep behaviours (including evening electronic device use) and sleep quantity in well-trained athletes. Seventy well-trained athletes (44 females, 26 males) aged 21 ± 4 y from a range of team and individual sports were asked to complete an online sleep diary for 7 days. The sleep diary included questions about pre-sleep behaviours (e.g. napping, caffeine intake), electronic device use in the 2 h prior to bedtime (e.g. type of device and duration of use) and sleep (e.g. time in bed, sleep onset latency). On average, athletes spent 8:20 ± 1:21 h in bed each night. Associations between age, time in bed and sleepiness suggested that younger athletes spent more time in bed (B = -0.05, p = 0.001) but felt sleepier (r = -0.32, p < 0.01) than older athletes. On average, athletes mostly used electronic devices for 0–30 min prior to sleep. The use of multiple devices in the evening was associated with more perceived difficulty in falling asleep (B = 0.22, p = 0.03), but no associations existed with other sleep variables. In summary, younger athletes may require later start times or improved sleep quality to resolve excessive sleepiness.     

A novel sleep optimisation programme to improve athletes’ well-being and performance

Objectives: To improve well-being and performance indicators in a group of Australian Football League (AFL) players via a six-week sleep optimisation programme. Design: Prospective intervention study following observations suggestive of reduced sleep and excessive daytime sleepiness in an AFL group. Methods: Athletes from the Adelaide Football Club were invited to participate if they had played AFL senior-level football for 1–5 years, or if they had excessive daytime sleepiness (Epworth Sleepiness Scale [ESS] >10), measured via ESS. An initial education session explained normal sleep needs, and how to achieve increased sleep duration and quality. Participants (n?=?25) received ongoing feedback on their sleep, and a mid-programme education and feedback session. Sleep duration, quality and related outcomes were measured during week one and at the conclusion of the six-week intervention period using sleep diaries, actigraphy, ESS, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Profile of Mood States, Training Distress Scale, Perceived Stress Scale and the Psychomotor Vigilance Task. Results: Sleep diaries demonstrated an increase in total sleep time of approximately 20?min (498.8?±?53.8 to 518.7?±?34.3; p?<?.05) and a 2% increase in sleep efficiency (p?<?0.05). There was a corresponding increase in vigour (p?<?0.001) and decrease in fatigue (p?<?0.05). Conclusions: Improvements in measures of sleep efficiency, fatigue and vigour indicate that a sleep optimisation programme may improve athletes’ well-being. More research is required into the effects of sleep optimisation on athletic performance.     

Football Club Formation and the Lancashire Leisure Class, 1857–1870

This paper outlines the transition from football games played for occasional amusement to a system of organized football clubs playing regular matches in Lancashire in the mid-nineteenth century. This was led by young men of an emerging Lancashire leisured class being, in the main, the public school educated sons of the northern county’s commercial and industrial elite. These families had accumulated sufficient wealth, especially in the first half of the nineteenth century, to exempt a considerable part of their population from work both at weekends and during the normal working week with football becoming an act of conspicuous consumption. Three case studies of individual clubs and leading individuals within those clubs are presented with detailed archival research carefully avoiding the teleology implicit in much historical writing of the past. It also swells the paucity of good historical material about the organization of sport at levels below national bodies. In so doing, it aims to illuminate some of the shadows in the big picture of the evolution of sport and leisure in Lancashire and Britain itself while informing the ongoing orthodox/revisionist debate into the origins of football in the nineteenth century.     

生活方式干预对心血管疾病危险因素的影响——美国HELPS项目成果

摘要：心血管疾病（CVD）一直是全世界最主要的死因。由于CVD等慢性疾病对健康的威胁越来越大,有必要开展生活方式干预项目以控制这些疾病的危险因素。本研究的目的是评估美国的重要慢病干预项目—HELPS治疗型生活方式改变（TLC）项目对减少CVD危险因素和其他慢性疾病的有效性。方法：140位大学教职工参加为期12周的HELPS TLC项目,干预前后用配对t检验对其体重、BMI、腰围（WC）、6分钟步行距离（6MWD）、空腹血脂和血糖进行测定和比较。结果：干预后6MWD显著增加,总胆固醇（TC）和WC显著下降。对“高危”参与者进一步分析显示：BMI（-1.5±0.5,-3.9%）、TC（- 22.8±4.0,-9.0%）、LDL（- 14.1±4.9,9.3%）和血糖（-6.9±2.2,-6.1%）均显著下降;男性腰围（-4.5±0.8,-10%）显著减小,女性未见显著改变（-1.5±0.5,-4.0%）。此外,体重的变化与TC（r=0.43）、LDL（r=0.35）和血糖（r=0.44）的变化均显著相关。结论：参加12周的生活方式干预项目可以使CVD危险因素减少,特别是在CVD“高危”个体中。HELPS TLC项目的远期效果还待进一步深入研究。     

‘We Have to Go Where the Money Is’—Dilemmas in the Role of Nutrition Scientists: An Interview Study

In Western societies scientists are increasingly expected to seek media exposure and cooperate with industry. Little attention has been given to the way such expectations affect the role of scientific experts in society. To investigate scientists’ own perspectives on these issues eight exploratory, in-depth interviews were conducted in Denmark with reputable nutrition scientists. Additionally, eight interviews were held with ‘key informants’ from the field of nutrition policy. It was found that nutrition scientists experience two dilemmas: first, between their aspiration to make a collective impact on public health and the powerful incentives of each to appear frequently in the media with new messages; second, between their need to cooperate with the food industry for financial reasons and their fear that this may compromise their independence and scientific integrity. It is argued that the dilemmas identified in this study should be dealt with openly by the relevant groups of scientists.     

Predicting student self-concept,anxiety, and responsibility from self-evaluation and self-praise

Nineteen elementary teachers were observed for the frequency with which they modeled self-praise for their students and taught their students to praise and evaluate themselves. Measures of student self-concept, anxiety, and achievement responsibility were taken at the end of the year. It was found that teacher modeling of self-praise correlated negatively with boys' selfconcept and positively with girls'. Teacher encouragement of students to praise other students correlated positively with boys' anxiety and negatively with girls'. Teacher modeling of self-praise and teacher encouragement of students to praise other students were the best predictors of self-concept.     

Conservation in the United Kingdom

British conservation is respected around the world for its excellence, based on a tradition of caring for heritage material, backed up by high‐quality training and research. This paper charts the origins and development of the conservation profession in the United Kingdom and provides a comprehensive overview of the number, location and variety of conservation specialists currently working in the UK. It looks at those working in both the public and private sectors. The findings are based on a number of surveys conducted by the professional bodies and by government agencies such as the Museums & Galleries Commission (MGC). Most of the information relates only to museums, but the most recent survey of conservators by the MGC also looked at provision in libraries and archives.