Purpose: To investigate the effects of napping after partial sleep deprivation (PSD) on reaction time, mood, and biochemical response to repeated-sprint exercise in athletes. Methods: Nine male judokas performed 4 test sessions in a counterbalanced and randomized order. Participants accomplished 1 control session after a normal sleep night (NSN) and 3 after PSD with (1) no nap, (2) ~20-min nap (N20), and (3) ~90-min nap (N90) opportunities. Test sessions included the running-based anaerobic sprint test, reaction time, Hooper index, and Epworth Sleepiness Scale. Muscle-damage biomarkers and antioxidant status were evaluated before and after exercise. Results: PSD decreased maximum (P<.001, d=1.12), mean (P<.001, d=1.33), and minimum (P=.001, d=1.15) powers compared with NSN. However, N20 and N90 enhanced maximum power compared with PSD (P<.05, d=0.54; P<.001, d=1.06, respectively). Minimum power and mean power increased only after N90 (P<.001, d=1.63; P<.001, d=1.16, respectively). Epworth Sleepiness Scale increased after PSD (P<.001, d=0.86) and decreased after N20 (P<.001, d=1.36) and N90 (P<.001, d=2.07). N20 reduced multiple-choice reaction time (P<.001, d=0.61). Despite performance decrement, PSD increased postexercise aspartate aminotransferase (P<.001, d=4.16) and decreased glutathione peroxidase (P<.001, d=4.02) compared with NSN. However, the highest performances after N90 were accompanied with lesser aspartate aminotransferase (P<.001, d=1.74) and higher glutathione peroxidase (P<.001, d=0.86) compared with PSD. Conclusions: Napping could be preventive against performance degradation caused by sleep loss. A short nap opportunity could be more beneficial when the subsequent effort is brief and requires frequent decision making. However, a longer nap opportunity could be preventive against muscle and oxidative damage, even for higher performances.
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