{"doi":"10.3390/life15081178","title":"Single-Night Sleep Extension Enhances Morning Physical and Cognitive Performance Across Time of Day in Physically Active University Students: A Randomized Crossover Study","abstract":"<jats:p>This study investigated the effects of a single-night sleep extension protocol on physical performance and cognitive function in physically active university students across different times of day. Using a within-subjects, counterbalanced crossover design, 24 physically active university students (17 males, 7 females; age: 22.7 ± 1.6 years) completed performance assessments under normal-sleep and sleep-extension conditions. Participants’ sleep was monitored via wrist actigraphy, and a comprehensive assessment battery comprising vertical jumps, Y-Balance tests, medicine-ball throws, 5 m shuttle-run tests, reaction-time tests, and digit-cancellation tests was administered at baseline (8 PM), morning (8 AM), and afternoon (4 PM). Sleep extension increased total sleep time by approximately 55 min (531.3 ± 56.8 min vs. 476.5 ± 64.2 min; p &lt; 0.001, d = 0.91). Significant improvements were observed in 5 m shuttle-run performance at 8 AM (best distance: 102.8 ± 11.9 m vs. 93.3 ± 8.5 m, p &lt; 0.001, d = 0.93; fatigue index: 13.1 ± 8.3% vs. 21.2 ± 9.5%, p &lt; 0.001, d = 0.90), squat-jump heights (28.2 ± 8.0 cm vs. 26.3 ± 7.2 cm, p = 0.005, d = 0.25), simple reaction time (252.8 ± 55.3 ms vs. 296.4 ± 75.2 ms, p &lt; 0.001, d = 0.66), and digit-cancellation performance (67.6 ± 12.6 vs. 63.0 ± 10.0 targets, p = 0.006, d = 0.40). Sleep extension significantly enhances both physical and cognitive performance in physically active individuals, with effects more pronounced during morning hours, partially attenuating typical circadian performance decline and establishing sleep extension as an effective, non-pharmacological strategy for optimizing performance capabilities.</jats:p>","journal":"Life","year":2025,"id":643467,"datarank":0.49983067652628066,"base_score":3.332204510175204,"endowment":3.332204510175204,"self_citation_contribution":0.49983067652628066,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.49983067652628066,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":27,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1674277,"name":"Wissem Dhahbi","orcid":"0000-0001-6221-546X","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1674278,"name":"Aymen Ferchichi","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1674279,"name":"Vlad Adrian Geantă","orcid":"0000-0002-8488-1698","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1674280,"name":"Mihai Ioan Kunszabo","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1674281,"name":"Hamdi Chtourou","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1674282,"name":"Nizar Souissi","orcid":"0000-0003-1227-8221","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1674276,"name":"Eya Bouzouraa","orcid":"0009-0004-7080-7886","position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"resolved":true,"title":"Single-Night Sleep Extension Enhances Morning Physical and Cognitive Performance Across Time of Day in Physically Active University Students: A Randomized Crossover Study","abstract":"<jats:p>This study investigated the effects of a single-night sleep extension protocol on physical performance and cognitive function in physically active university students across different times of day. Using a within-subjects, counterbalanced crossover design, 24 physically active university students (17 males, 7 females; age: 22.7 ± 1.6 years) completed performance assessments under normal-sleep and sleep-extension conditions. Participants’ sleep was monitored via wrist actigraphy, and a comprehensive assessment battery comprising vertical jumps, Y-Balance tests, medicine-ball throws, 5 m shuttle-run tests, reaction-time tests, and digit-cancellation tests was administered at baseline (8 PM), morning (8 AM), and afternoon (4 PM). Sleep extension increased total sleep time by approximately 55 min (531.3 ± 56.8 min vs. 476.5 ± 64.2 min; p &lt; 0.001, d = 0.91). Significant improvements were observed in 5 m shuttle-run performance at 8 AM (best distance: 102.8 ± 11.9 m vs. 93.3 ± 8.5 m, p &lt; 0.001, d = 0.93; fatigue index: 13.1 ± 8.3% vs. 21.2 ± 9.5%, p &lt; 0.001, d = 0.90), squat-jump heights (28.2 ± 8.0 cm vs. 26.3 ± 7.2 cm, p = 0.005, d = 0.25), simple reaction time (252.8 ± 55.3 ms vs. 296.4 ± 75.2 ms, p &lt; 0.001, d = 0.66), and digit-cancellation performance (67.6 ± 12.6 vs. 63.0 ± 10.0 targets, p = 0.006, d = 0.40). Sleep extension significantly enhances both physical and cognitive performance in physically active individuals, with effects more pronounced during morning hours, partially attenuating typical circadian performance decline and establishing sleep extension as an effective, non-pharmacological strategy for optimizing performance capabilities.</jats:p>","is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":3.332204510175204,"endowment":3.332204510175204,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"40868825","pmcid":"PMC12387293","openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W4412631178","authors":[],"funders":[],"total_grants":0,"fwci":29.5866,"citation_percentile":0.99785136,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[{"year":2025,"count":7},{"year":2026,"count":20}],"oa_status":"gold","license":"cc-by","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/15/8/1178/pdf?version=1753362101","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/15/8/1178/pdf?version=1753362101","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/15/8/1178/pdf","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.3390/life15081178","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40868825","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://doaj.org/article/0fa7ca856d4e454dac4fcbd9bdaa571a","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/12387293","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC12387293","host_type":"Europe_PMC"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC12387293?pdf=render","host_type":"Europe_PMC"}],"fields_of_study":["Sleep and related disorders","Sleep and Work-Related Fatigue","Physical Activity and Health"],"mesh_terms":[],"keywords":["Morning","Crossover study","Sleep (system call)","Cognition","Effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance","Physical activity","Randomized controlled trial","Actigraphy","Psychology","Time trial","Crossover","Medicine","Physical therapy","Audiology","Gerontology","Circadian rhythm","Computer science","Placebo","Internal medicine","Artificial intelligence","Sleep","Recovery","Reaction time","Vigilance","Chronobiology","Neuromuscular Function"],"sdg_mappings":[],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[{"name":"doi"}],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-08-08T17:09:37.774124Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}