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Sleep Intervention Swiss Elite Athletes

NCT06944574 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 16

Last updated 2025-04-25

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Background and Rationale Elite athletes frequently experience sleep disturbances due to factors like irregular schedules, travel, and pre-competition stress. Despite the critical role of sleep in physical recovery and mental health, many athletes fail to meet sleep quality recommendations. While sleep interventions have shown promise in improving sleep outcomes, their effects on mental health-especially in athlete populations-remain underexplored. This study investigates the impact of a 4-week app-based sleep intervention, preceded by a workshop, on both sleep and mental health outcomes in Swiss elite athletes.

Objective To evaluate whether a brief, structured sleep intervention improves sleep quality and mental health in elite athletes and to identify perceived facilitators and barriers to intervention success.

Design A single-center, one-arm pre-post intervention study with four time points (baseline, pre-intervention, post-intervention, and 2-month follow-up). No control group is used due to practical constraints.

Participants 16 elite athletes (sport soldiers) enrolled in the Swiss recruit school. All participants are adults and proficient in German.

Intervention

A one-hour sleep workshop covering the importance of sleep and motivation-setting.

A four-week app-based program ("7-Schläfer") with seven audio modules (approx. 30 minutes each), completed flexibly by participants.

Outcomes

Primary outcomes include:

Sleep quality and disturbances

Mental health (depression, anxiety, well-being)

Data will be collected via REDCap using validated questionnaires. After the intervention, individual interviews will gather qualitative feedback.

Analysis Quantitative data will be analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA. Focus group data will be analyzed thematically.

Significance The study aims to provide practical, scalable insights into how sleep-focused interventions can improve athlete well-being and inform recommendations for sport organizations.

Conditions

  • Sleep Problems

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Guided online intervention

The intervention combines a one-hour in-person workshop with a four-week app-based program tailored to elite athletes. The workshop focuses on sleep education and individual motivation setting. Athletes then complete seven self-paced audio modules via the "7-Schläfer" app, covering strategies to improve sleep quality. Weekly reminder emails reinforce motivation. Unlike other interventions, this program is fully integrated into the elite sport context, emphasizes behavioral change through personalized goal-setting, and includes no therapist contact, ensuring scalability. No control group is included in this one-arm pre-post design.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Swiss Federal Institute of Sport Magglingen

    lead OTHER_GOV

Study Design

Allocation
NA
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Model
SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2024-11-01
Primary Completion
2025-03-31
Completion
2025-03-31

Countries

  • Switzerland

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT06944574 on ClinicalTrials.gov