The Silent Sleep Crisis Among Swiss Elite Athletes
How the pursuit of peak performance is keeping athletes from the rest they desperately need
Imagine it's the night before the most important competition of your life. You've trained for thousands of hours, perfected your technique, and followed every training protocol precisely. There's just one problem: as you lie in bed, sleep won't come. The very rest your body desperately needs to perform at its peak remains elusive, stolen by the pressure to perform, the unfamiliar hotel room, and the mental replay of tomorrow's event.
This scenario plays out repeatedly in the world of elite sports, creating a troubling paradox: those who need recovery the most often struggle to get it.
Recent groundbreaking research from Switzerland has uncovered the surprising extent of this hidden crisis. A comprehensive study of 1,004 Swiss top athletes across 88 different sports reveals that sleep problems are far more than just pre-competition jitters—they're a persistent, widespread issue affecting nearly one-fifth of elite competitors 1 . As we delve into the science of sleep and athletic performance, we discover why this finding matters not just for medal counts, but for the long-term health and well-being of those who represent the peak of human physical achievement.
For decades, coaches and athletes viewed sleep primarily as a period of inactivity—the body's "off switch." Modern sports science has completely overturned this misconception, revealing sleep as an active, essential component of athletic recovery and performance.
Sleep provides four critical functions for athletes:
During deep sleep (known as N3 or slow-wave sleep), the body releases up to 95% of its daily growth hormone, driving muscle repair, bone remodeling, and tissue regeneration 3 . This is when the microscopic damage from intense training is actually repaired, making the body stronger.
The rapid eye movement (REM) stage of sleep plays a crucial role in consolidating motor skills and procedural memories 3 . That perfect golf swing or gymnastics routine? Your brain continues to practice it during sleep, strengthening neural pathways without physical repetition.
Sleep regulates hormones that control appetite, metabolism, and immune response. Even partial sleep deprivation can disrupt these systems, increasing susceptibility to illness and impairing the body's ability to fuel performance optimally 2 .
The mental aspects of sports—from split-second decision-making to maintaining focus under pressure—all depend on adequate sleep. Sleep deprivation significantly impairs reaction time, accuracy, and motivation 1 .
When we understand these functions, it becomes clear why the International Olympic Committee has officially recognized sleep as a "major contributor to athletic performance and a fundamental feature of athlete mental health" 2 .
Until recently, comprehensive data on sleep problems across different sports disciplines was limited. The 2024 Swiss study aimed to change this by conducting one of the most extensive sleep surveys of elite athletes ever undertaken 1 .
Athletes Surveyed
Different Sports
Response Rate
Affected by Sleep Issues
The research team reached out to all Swiss athletes aged 16 or older who were national squad members at either elite or junior levels—representing Switzerland's best athletic talent across virtually every sport. The response was impressive: 1,004 athletes completed the detailed survey, representing a 21% response rate from the 4,872 athletes contacted 1 .
The participant pool was remarkably diverse, including competitors from 88 different sports, with the most common being soccer, athletics, ice hockey, alpine skiing, floorball, rowing, volleyball, and orienteering. To enable meaningful analysis across such varied disciplines, researchers grouped athletes into eight categories based on a recognized classification system from the Norwegian Olympic Training Centre 1 :
| Sports Group | Number of Athletes | Percentage | Example Sports |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technical | 215 | 21.4% | Curling, shooting |
| Endurance | 146 | 14.5% | Road cycling |
| Aesthetic | 31 | 3.1% | Synchronized swimming |
| Weight-class | 89 | 8.9% | Wrestling |
| Ball game | 360 | 35.9% | Soccer, ice hockey |
| Power | 74 | 7.4% | Alpine skiing |
| Antigravitation | 20 | 2.0% | Climbing |
| Diverse | 69 | 6.9% | Pentathlon |
These athletes represented the full spectrum of elite competition, training an average of 14.8 hours per week and participating in 26.7 competitions annually 1 . This broad representation makes the findings particularly significant—the sleep issues identified weren't limited to a few specific sports but appeared across the athletic spectrum.
To gain accurate insights into athletes' sleep health, the researchers employed the Athlete Sleep Screening Questionnaire (ASSQ), a specialized tool developed specifically for athletic populations 1 . Unlike generic sleep questionnaires, the ASSQ accounts for unique athlete challenges like travel disruptions, irregular training schedules, and competition anxiety.
Additionally, the researchers administered two validated mental health questionnaires:
These were used to explore potential connections between sleep and mental health in this high-performance population 1 .
The cross-sectional study design provided a detailed "snapshot" of sleep health across the athletic community at a single time point. All participants provided informed consent, and the study was approved by the appropriate ethics committee, ensuring proper research standards were maintained 1 .
The findings revealed a population struggling with sleep despite their elite physical condition. When researchers analyzed five high-risk sleep factors, they discovered that 18% of athletes were affected by at least two of these concerning patterns 1 .
| Sleep Problem | Prevalence Among Athletes | Clinical Significance |
|---|---|---|
| Sleeping less than 6 hours per day |
|
Associated with impaired recovery and performance |
| Dissatisfaction with sleep |
|
Indicates perceived sleep quality issues |
| Difficulty falling asleep within 30 minutes |
|
Suggests potential insomnia symptoms |
| Difficulty maintaining sleep (>3 times/week) |
|
Indicates sleep fragmentation |
| Use of sleeping pills (>1 time/week) |
|
Signals reliance on pharmacological support |
These statistics become particularly striking when we consider that these individuals represent the peak of physical health—active, non-obese, and without chronic diseases typically associated with sleep problems 1 .
Perhaps the most compelling finding was the strong link between sleep health and mental well-being. The study found that 22% of athletes showed at least moderate symptoms of either depression or anxiety 1 . The correlation between sleep difficulties and mental health symptoms was robust, suggesting that addressing sleep problems might effectively improve mental health outcomes among athletes.
of athletes showed at least moderate symptoms of depression or anxiety
affected by at least two high-risk sleep factors
This connection highlights a potential vicious cycle: pre-competition anxiety and pressure can disrupt sleep, while poor sleep then exacerbates mental health symptoms and impairs performance, creating additional anxiety.
The research also uncovered intriguing patterns across different types of sports. While the study didn't find dramatic differences between sport categories in terms of basic sleep metrics, it did reveal that certain groups—particularly team sport athletes and those in high-pressure individual sports—faced unique challenges.
The timing and structure of training emerged as significant factors, with early morning sessions potentially disrupting natural circadian rhythms, and evening training sometimes leaving athletes too energized to fall asleep promptly. The constant travel associated with competition schedules also created consistent sleep disruption, particularly across time zones 1 .
The Swiss study utilized a crucial tool that represents a significant advancement in sports medicine: the Athlete Sleep Screening Questionnaire (ASSQ). This instrument has been clinically validated specifically for athletic populations, demonstrating 81% sensitivity and 93% specificity when compared to assessments by sleep medicine physicians 8 .
Sensitivity
Specificity
General sleep questionnaires often overestimate sleep problems in athletes because they don't account for the unique demands of sports training and competition. The ASSQ differentiates between temporary, sport-related sleep disruption and chronic sleep disorders requiring clinical intervention 8 .
Identifying the problem is only the first step. Swiss researchers have already developed and are testing solutions through the Sleep Intervention for Swiss Elite Athletes (SISEA) program 6 .
A one-hour session that provides athletes with fundamental information about sleep's importance and helps them set personal sleep improvement goals.
A four-week, app-based program featuring seven modules that guide athletes through different aspects of sleep improvement, with approximately 30 minutes of audio content per module 6 .
The program takes a proactive, preventive approach rather than waiting for sleep problems to become severe. Early results suggest that such targeted interventions can significantly improve both sleep quality and mental health outcomes for athletes, though comprehensive results are still being analyzed 6 .
| Tool or Method | Primary Function | Application in Sports Science |
|---|---|---|
| Athlete Sleep Screening Questionnaire (ASSQ) | Clinical sleep screening | Identifies athletes needing sleep intervention; validated specifically for athletic populations 8 |
| Polysomnography (PSG) | Gold standard sleep assessment | Diagnoses sleep disorders; measures sleep architecture in laboratory settings 3 |
| Actigraphy | Movement-based sleep estimation | Tracks sleep patterns longitudinally in athletes' natural environments 3 |
| Heart Rate Variability (HRV) Monitoring | Autonomic nervous system assessment | Predicts sleep quality and recovery status using wearable technology 5 |
| Sleep Diaries | Subjective sleep tracking | Provides contextual information about athletes' perceived sleep quality and habits |
This toolkit enables researchers and sports medicine professionals to approach sleep from multiple angles—from precise laboratory measurements to practical field-based monitoring that fits within athletes' training schedules.
The Swiss sleep study represents a paradigm shift in how we view athletic preparation. The findings make it clear that sleep can no longer be treated as an afterthought in training regimens—it deserves the same careful attention as nutrition, technique work, and strength conditioning.
What makes these discoveries particularly compelling is their universal relevance. While elite athletes face unique pressures, the fundamental importance of sleep extends to recreational exercisers, weekend warriors, and virtually anyone interested in physical performance and well-being.
As research continues, we're likely to see more personalized sleep interventions tailored to different sports, training phases, and individual athlete chronotypes. The growing sophistication of sleep-tracking technology offers promise for more precise monitoring and intervention, though researchers caution against over-reliance on consumer devices without proper validation 3 .
The message from the research is clear: in the relentless pursuit of marginal gains that separate good from great, we've been overlooking one of the most powerful performance enhancers available. By bringing sleep out of the shadows and into the training plan, athletes at every level may discover that their path to better performance lies not in doing more, but in resting more effectively.