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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2012 Nov-Dec;47(6):673-8.
doi: 10.4085/1062-6050-47.6.08.

Red light and the sleep quality and endurance performance of Chinese female basketball players

Jiexiu Zhao  1 , Ye Tian, Jinlei Nie, Jincheng Xu, Dongsen Liu
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Red light and the sleep quality and endurance performance of Chinese female basketball players

Jiexiu Zhao et al. J Athl Train. 2012 Nov-Dec.

Abstract

Context: Good sleep is an important recovery method for prevention and treatment of overtraining in sport practice. Whether sleep is regulated by melatonin after red-light irradiation in athletes is unknown.

Objective: To determine the effect of red light on sleep quality and endurance performance of Chinese female basketball players.

Design: Cohort study.

Setting: Athletic training facility of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and research laboratory of the China Institute of Sport Science. Patients or Other Participants: Twenty athletes of the Chinese People's Liberation Army team (age = 18.60 6 3.60 years) took part in the study. Participants were divided into red-light treatment (n = 10) and placebo (n = 10) groups.

Intervention(s): The red-light treatment participants received 30 minutes of irradiation from a red-light therapy instrument every night for 14 days. The placebo group did not receive light illumination.

Main outcome measure(s): The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire was completed, serum melatonin was assessed, and 12-minute run was performed at preintervention (baseline) and postintervention (14 days).

Results: The 14-day whole-body irradiation with red-light treatment improved the sleep, serum melatonin level, and endurance performance of the elite female basketball players (P < .05). We found a correlation between changes in global Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and serum melatonin levels (r = -0.695, P = .006).

Conclusions: Our study confirmed the effectiveness of body irradiation with red light in improving the quality of sleep of elite female basketball players and offered a nonpharmacologic and noninvasive therapy to prevent sleep disorders after training.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Participant receiving the red-light treatment.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Subjective sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index) for the red-light treatment and placebo groups (mean ± SD). a Indicates different from preintervention (P < .05). b Indicates difference between groups at postintervention (P < .01).
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
>Serum levels of melatonin for the red-light treatment and placebo groups. a Indicates different from preintervention (P < .01). b Indicates difference between groups at postintervention (P < .01).
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Cooper 12-minute run performances in the red-light treatment and placebo groups. a Indicates different from preintervention (P < .05).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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