Athlete Sleep Series: #4

The Athlete Sleep Behaviour Questionnaire (ASBQ)

The ASBQ was created and validated in an athletic population in 2018.

The questionnaire has 18 items and was designed for elite athletes who have already been identified to have sleep disturbance concerns, with the intention to allow for individualized feedback and behavioural modifications based on their responses. In essence, trying to get a clearer picture on why the athlete may be reporting these concerns.

The use of the ASBQ has been suggested for athletes who fall into the ‘mild sleep problem’ category, as per the flow chart in Series No1.

I would suggest that there may be valuable information to obtain and possible behavioural modifications to be given for those athletes waiting on a referral for ‘moderate and severe sleep problems’. So use your judgement but you may be able to help in some capacity for all of your athletes.

The Authors suggest that a score of less than or equal to 36 signifies good sleep behaviour and greater than or equal to 42 signifies poor sleep behaviour. However, it is the individual questions that the athlete scores highest on that are of most value to you, as those are where your interventions will take aim.

The highest scores for athletes (compared to non-athletes) were on question #9 ‘I think, plan, and worry about my sporting performance when I am in bed’, question #7 ‘I go to bed with sore muscles’, and question #2 ‘I exercise late at night’.

Take a quick read of Series No2 for some ideas on how to manage these issues.

You can find the full ASBQ and the scoring key available for download HERE.

The ASBQ is below and filled in by me. (Again, not an elite athlete)

I hope the ASBQ offers a practical solution to identifying key sleep-related challenges for your athletes.

Thanks for taking the time to read!