A first of its kind project led by Monash University is investigating the impact of sleep and circadian disruption on peak performance and recovery in elite female athletes to develop a sleep optimisation program to assist in improving mental and physical health.
Project FASTT (Female Athlete Sleep, Travel and Technology), is led by Dr Elise Facer-Childs and her team from Monash University's School of Psychological Sciences and funded by the Australian Research Council and the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance.
The project aims to generate new knowledge about the physiological changes associated with sleep, circadian disruption and the impact of the menstrual cycle in female athletes.
"The project seeks to increase our understanding of how these factors impact athletes and develop an effective, individualised optimisation program to enhance performance, recovery, and mental wellbeing. The findings of our project will benefit elite sports organisations and have the potential to be applied in other high-performance settings," Dr Facer-Childs said.
"Historically, sports science research has predominantly focused on male athletes, leading to a huge gap in understanding the specific needs of female athletes. Whilst this project is developing sleep programs that could be used by anyone looking for improvements in physical and mental health, we are initially focusing on female athletes."
"To investigate the impact of sleep and circadian disruption on peak performance and recovery, we have developed a collaboration with WHOOP so we can easily track sleep and physiology in our athletes using their wearable devices.
"We have physiological data (heart rate, heart rate variability, respiratory rate etc), as well as sleep stages and recovery information from the WHOOP devices. We are also doing detailed melatonin assessments with all our athletes to assess individual markers of body clocks, and collect data on menstrual cycles, mental health, performance and nutrition.
"An important part of conducting this research is developing close relationships with our partners. This allows us to co-design the research with industry experts, get input from athletes with lived experience, and explore ways to translate the outcomes through new technology," Dr Facer-Childs said.
Project FASTT involves a global team of researchers and experts in sleep science, sports medicine, and performance optimisation, including key industry partner; Readiness, who are technology innovators in workplace wellbeing and hazard risk management, wearable tech company WHOOP, academic collaborators; Kathryn Ackerman, from Harvard University, Shona Halson, from the Australian Catholic University, and Satchin Panda, from the Salk Institute. The project also involves elite sports partners; the Southside Flyers from the Women's National Basketball Association, GreenEDGE Cycling, a UCI World Tour Cycling Team and North Melbourne Football Club.
Case Study - Tricia Cowan, North Melbourne (VFLW)
Tricia Cowan, plays Australian Football and is a part of Project FASTT with the North Melbourne VFLW program.
