Inter-relationship between sleep quality, insomnia and sleep disorders in professional soccer players

Objective Insufficient sleep duration and quality has negative effects on athletic performance, injury susceptibility and athlete development. This study aimed to assess the sleep characteristics of professional Qatar Stars League (QSL) soccer players. Methods In a cross-sectional study, QSL players (n=111; 23.7±4.8 years) completed three questionnaires to screen sleep disorders: (1) Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), (2) Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) and (3) Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). Poor sleep quality was defined as PSQI≥5, excessive daytime sleepiness was defined by ESS>8 and insomnia was defined as ISI≥11. Results The prevalence of poor sleep quality (PSQI≥5) was 68.5%, with subthreshold insomnia (ISI≥11) 27.0% and daytime sleepiness 22.5% (ESS>8). Sleep quality was positively associated with insomnia (r=0.42, p<0.001) and daytime sleepiness (r=0.23, p=0.018). Age, anthropometry, body composition and ethnicity were not associated with any of the reported sleep quality parameters. Conclusion The prevalence of poor sleep quality (68.5%) reported should concern practitioners. Increasing awareness of the importance of sleep relative to athletic performance, recovery, injury and illness appears prudent. Further, regular qualitative/quantitative sleep monitoring may help target subsequent evidence-informed interventions to improve sleep in those demonstrating undesirable sleep traits

Alterations in cognitive performance during passive hyperthermia are task dependent

The objectives of this study were to (1) assess the effect of passive heating upon attention and memory task performance, and (2) evaluate the effectiveness of the application of cold packs to the head on preserving these functions. Using a counterbalance design 16 subjects underwent three trials: a control (CON, 20°C, 40% rH), hot (HOT, 50°C, 50% rH) and hot with the head kept cool (HHC). In each condition, three attention tests and two memory tests were performed. Mean core, forehead and tympanic temperatures were all significantly higher (p< 0.05) during HOT (38.6° ±0.1°, 39.6° ±0.2° and 38.8°±0.1°C, respectively) and HHC (38°±0.2, 37.7°±0.3° and 37.7°C, respectively) than in CON (37.1°±0.6°, 33.3° ±0.2° and 35.9°±0.3°C, respectively). Results indicate that there was impairment in working memory with heat exposure (p < 0.05) without alteration in attentional processes. The regular application of cold packs only prevented the detrimental effect of hyperthermia on short-term memory. Our results show that impairments in cognitive function with passive hyperthermia and the beneficial effect of head cooling are task dependent and suggests that exposure to a hot environment is a competing variable to the cognitive processes

Normes, Extra-Normes et Intégration

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La ville aujourd’hui, que doit-on repenser et qui doit décider ?

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Quelle jeunesse pour quelle société ?

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Marked referential communicative behaviours, but no differentiation of the ``knowledge state'' of humans in untrained pet dogs versus 1-year-old infants

International audienceThe study examines whether untrained dogs and infants take their caregiver's visual experience into account when communicating with them. Fifteen adult dogs and 15 one-year-old infants were brought into play with their caregivers with one of their own toys. The caregiver gave the toy to the experimenter, who, in different conditions, placed it either above or under one of two containers, with both the infant or dog and the caregiver witnessing the positioning; in a third condition, the caregiver left the room before the toy was placed under one of the two containers and later returned. Afterwards, for each condition, the caregiver asked the participant to indicate the location of the toy. Neither dogs nor infants-untrained to the use of the partner's knowledge state-showed much difference of behaviour between the three conditions. However, dogs showed more persistence for most behaviours (gaze at the owner, gaze at the toy and gaze alternation) and conditions, suggesting that the situation made more demands on dogs' communicative behaviours than on those of infants. When all deictic behaviours of infants (arm points towards the toy and gaze at the toy) were taken into account, dogs and infants did not differ. Phylogeny, early experience and ontogeny may all play a role in the ways that both species communicate with adult humans

Vers un nouveau modèle du stress et de l'adaptation (étude sur les élèves pilotes de l'armée de l'air)

La présente thèse propose un nouveau modèle explicatif de la genèse du stress, impliquant la structure cérébrale qu'est le néocortex préfrontal. Elle présente celui-ci comme le signal d'alarme manifestant le caractère inadapté de la stratégie en cours. De nombreux travaux amènent à penser que ce signal d'alarme est déclenché par le néocortex préfrontal, considéré comme le siège de l'intelligence et de l'adaptation. Dans ce cadre, l'objet de cette thèse a été d'éprouver les fondements théoriques dudit modèle, en évaluant l'efficacité d'outils d'adaptation et de gestion du stress basé sur ce modèle, et ce auprès d'élèves-pilotes de l'Armée de l'Air, population reconnue pour être particulièrement sujette aux situations de stress. Nous avons alors comparé trois groupes d'élèves-pilotes : le premier participant à une formation à l'utilisation des outils nous intéressant ; le deuxième participant à une formation comparative et officiellement dispensée aux pilotes pour aborder le facteur humain et les notions d'adaptation et de stress ; et enfin le dernier groupe ne participant à aucune formation, et représentant le groupe de référence contrôle. Les élèves ont été soumis à des mesures du stress et à une évaluation finale en simulateur de vol, proposant un scénario mettant en jeu la vie du pilote. Les résultats montrent, de façon significative, une moindre tendance au stress et de meilleures performances en simulateur de vol pour les individus du groupe cible (formé à l'utilisation des outils basés sur le modèle proposé), en comparaison aux individus des autres groupes.This thesis proposes a new model explaining the genesis of stress, involving the prefrontal neocortex. Stress is presented as the alarm signal showing the inadequacy of the current strategy. Many studies suggest that this alarm is triggered by the prefrontal neocortex, considered as the seat of intelligence and adaptation. In this context, the goal of this thesis was to test the theoretical model, assessing the efficiency of coping and stress management tools, based on this model. This efficiency have been tested for pilot students of the French Air Force, who are known to be particularly prone to stress situations. We compared three groups of pilot students : the first group was involved in training in the use of these tools ; the second group was involved in a comparative and formal training talking about the concepts of adaptation and stress ; and finally the last group was not involved in any training, and representing the reference and control group. Measures of stress and a final evaluation in a flight simulator, suggesting a scenario involving the life of the pilot, have been proposed to pilot students. The results showed significantly less stress and better performance in flight simulator for individuals of the target group (trained to use tools based on the model), compared to individuals of other groupsST DENIS-BU PARIS8 (930662101) / SudocSudocFranceF

Vieillissement et ralentissement psychomoteur (effet de l âge sur une activité psychomotrice fine)

L objectif de cette thèse est d examiner l effet de l âge sur l écriture. Nous avons mesuré la vitesse d écriture dans une série de tâches impliquant des processus psychomoteurs et cognitifs de complexité croissante. Cent trente quatre participants âgés de 20 à 80 ont exécuté 4 tâches d écriture, engageant des processus perceptivo-moteurs et/ou centraux. L objectif de la première expérience, Production de lettres ( llll , eeee , lele ) était d examiner l effet de l âge sur des processus perceptivo-moteurs lors de l écriture. L expérience 2 : Copie de mots (de différentes longueurs et de différentes fréquences), l expérience 3 : Production de mots (mots familiers et production de nombres en lettres), et l expérience 4 : Production de mots dans une tâche de rappel en mémoire de travail (production de nombres en lettres), nous permettaient d examiner l effet de l âge sur des processus centraux lors de la production de mots. Les résultats ont montré que, selon l unité à produire (lettres ou mots) et les processus impliqués lors des tâches d écriture, un ralentissement de la vitesse d écriture peut apparaître dés 50 ans. Les résultats de ce travail mettent en évidence un ralentissement psychomoteur dans l écriture avec l avancée en âgeThe aim of this dissertation is to investigate the effect of cognitif aging on a fine psychomotor activity. We focused on handwriting speed that we measured in several handwriting tasks requiring progressively psychomotor and complex cognitive processes. One-hundred and thirty-four participants aged 20 to 80 years old carried out four tasks that differently engaged psychomotor and cognitive processes. The aim of the first expriment, Letter Production ( llll , eeee , lele ), was to study the effect of aging on motor processus. Experiment 2: Word Copy (80 words: short and long length; low and high frequency), Experiment 3: Word Production (high familiar words and alphabetic numbers) and Experiment 4: Word Production embedded in a Working Memory Task (alphabetic numbers), aimed to acess the effect of aging in words handwriting. The results show depending on the units to write (letters or words), and the processus involved in the handwriting task, a handwriting slowing speed appears from 50 years old. the findings of this work on handwriting evidences a psychomotor slowing associated with increased age.ST DENIS-BU PARIS8 (930662101) / SudocSudocFranceF

Genèse, phylogenèse et influence des représentations cognitives : L’exemple du prénom

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