Melatonin supplementation improves psychomotor and physical performance in collegiate student-athletes following a sleep deprivation night.
Study Goal
The researchers aimed to determine whether melatonin supplementation could mitigate the negative effects of sleep deprivation on psychomotor performance and physical fitness measures in collegiate student-athletes.
Results Summary
Melatonin improved static and dynamic balance, anaerobic power, blood lactate levels, and reaction time compared to placebo under both 4-hour and 24-hour sleep deprivation conditions. The placebo group showed negative effects from sleep deprivation, with more severe impacts after 24 hours.
Population
Ten trained male collegiate student-athletes (mean age 20 ± 2 years).
Effective Dosage
6 mg administered orally 30 minutes before testing.
Duration
Single-dose intervention per session, with six sessions spaced 72 hours apart.
Interactions
None mentioned
| Intervention | Direction | Endpoint | Population | Dosage | Impact | Claim # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
sleep deprivation | decrease | post-cognitive and physical performance, and other functions | - | - | negatively impacts | #1 |
melatonin | increase | tolerance to training and competition | - | - | enhances tolerance to training and improves competition | #2 |
4 h sleep deprivation | decrease | static and dynamic balance, reaction time, and anaerobic power | trained male collegiate student-athletes | - | had negative effect | #3 |
24 h sleep deprivation | decrease | static and dynamic balance, reaction time, and anaerobic power | trained male collegiate student-athletes | - | had negative effect | #4 |
melatonin supplementation | increase | static and dynamic balance | trained male collegiate student-athletes | - | had a positive effect | #5 |
melatonin supplementation | increase | anaerobic power | trained male collegiate student-athletes | - | had a positive effect | #6 |
melatonin supplementation | decrease | blood lactic acid | trained male collegiate student-athletes | - | had a positive effect | #7 |
melatonin supplementation | decrease | reaction time | trained male collegiate student-athletes | - | had a positive effect | #8 |
Several studies report sleep deprivation negatively impacts post-cognitive and physical performance, and other functions. Recent findings indicate ingestion of melatonin prior to exercise enhances tolerance to training and improves competition. We investigated the effects of melatonin supplementation on psychomotor performance and selected physical fitness measures of collegiate student-athletes following 4 h and 24 h of sleep deprivation. The study employed a repeated-measures, double-blind, randomized controlled protocol with posttest control group design with six conditions [3 sleep conditions (without sleep deprivation, 4 h sleep deprivation (4SD) and 24 h sleep deprivation (24SD)) × 2 supplementation conditions (melatonin and placebo)]. Ten trained male collegiate student-athletes (mean ± SD; age: 20 ± 2 y) attended the laboratory on six occasions with 72 h between successive visits. Placebo or 6 mg of melatonin were administered orally in capsules 30 min before the tests of: static and dynamic balance, reaction time, and anaerobic power. Also, blood lactate was measured before and 3 min after the anaerobic power exercise. During the placebo session, the results indicated that 4SD and 24SD had negative effect on the measured parameters, with higher impacts of the 24SD condition. Compared to placebo and during both 4SD and 24SD conditions, melatonin had a positive effect on static and dynamic balance, anaerobic power, blood lactic acid, and reaction time (