Effects of Afternoon Napping, Caffeine, and Standardised Active Recovery on Evening Athletic Performance

Summary

This study evaluated whether afternoon napping, caffeine ingestion, and a standardised active recovery and nutritional protocol could influence evening physical and cognitive performance in healthy university athletes.

Participants completed five experimental conditions in a randomised crossover design: placebo without napping, napping with placebo, caffeine without napping, napping combined with caffeine, and napping combined with caffeine plus a standardised active recovery and nutritional protocol. The nap opportunity lasted 90 minutes and caffeine was administered at 5 mg/kg body mass.

The main outcome was repeated agility performance. Additional outcomes included sprint performance, jumping performance, reaction time, subjective sleepiness, sleep characteristics during the nap opportunity, and selected physiological measures. The study also explored whether responses differed according to sex and chronotype.

Conditions

• Athletic Performance
• Sports Performance
• Exercise Performance
• Circadian Rhythm

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Afternoon Nap

A 90-min afternoon nap opportunity from 13:00 to 14:30 in a quiet, dimly lit, temperature-controlled room. Sleep was monitored using a portable EEG headband. Participants were provided with earplugs and eye masks, and nap sleep characteristics, including sleep stages, were recorded.

DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Caffeine

Anhydrous caffeine (5 mg/kg body mass) was administered orally in an opaque capsule at 18:00. Placebo capsules contained microcrystalline cellulose and were matched for appearance, mass, colour, and odour. Capsule allocation was blinded to participants and outcome assessors.

COMBINATION_PRODUCT

Standardised Active Recovery and Nutritional Protocol

A 15-min standardised active recovery and nutritional protocol performed from 18:45 to 19:00. It included lower-limb dynamic stretching exercises (forward/backward and lateral leg swings, walking lunges, high knees, and butt kicks; 10 repetitions per leg at a controlled pace), followed by ingestion of a carbohydrate-protein snack containing 20 g maltodextrin and 10 g whey isolate mixed with 200 mL water.

OTHER

Placebo

Microcrystalline cellulose was administered orally in an opaque capsule at 18:00. Placebo capsules were matched to caffeine capsules for appearance, mass, colour, and odour.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• The Higher Institute of Sport and Physical Education of Sfax

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Kais El Abed, Phd · University of Sfax, Tunisia

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

TRIPLE

Model

CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

25 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-01-02

Primary Completion

2025-05-31

Completion

2025-05-31

Countries

• Tunisia

Study Locations