Pre-Race Sleep Management Strategy and Chronotype of Offshore Solo Sailors

Purpose: To evaluate chronotype and the sleep management strategy adopted by sailorsbefore the offshore solo sailing race “Mini Transat La Boulangère”. As secondary aim, weassessed whether adopting pre-race sleep management strategy influences performance atrace.Materials and Methods: Forty-two solo sailors completed questionnaires on sleep quality,sleepiness, chronotype and an ad hoc questionnaire on the pre-race sleep managementstrategy adopted. Arrival times, separately for each race’s leg, were provided by the raceorganization team.Results: Solo sailors present mainly with a morning-type (40%) and intermediate-type(60%) chronotype, while none have an evening-type chronotype. Fifty-five percent of sailorsadopted pre-race sleep management strategy. Sailors that adopted strategy have travelledmore miles in offshore compared to sailors that did not adopt strategy (p<0.05). Significantdifferences emerged in rMEQ scores, with sailors that adopted strategy presenting lowerscore compared to sailors that did not adopt sleep strategy (p<0.05), as well as in chronotypedistribution with morning-type sailors that are less likely to adopt pre-race sleep managementstrategy compared to intermediate type sailors (p<0.05). No differences emerged in finalarrival times and in arrival time at leg1 and leg2. The most commonly adopted strategy (52%of sailors) consists of sleep extension, followed by the polyphasic sleep (26%), and sleepdeprivation (22%) strategy. Sailors trained in polyphasic sleep have higher ESS than sailorstrained in sleep deprivation (p<0.05).Conclusion: Morning-type chronotype is overrepresented in this large cohort of solo sailorscompared to the general population; moreover, chronotype seems to influence the adoption ofsleep management strategy. A little over half of solo sailors participating in the Mini Transattrained in sleep management strategy before the race; however, neither the general adoptionof pre-race sleep management strategy nor the adoption of a specific sleep strategy seems tosignificantly influence final arrival times.