Table 2.

Meta-analysis results for effect of sleep loss on exercise performance

Exercise category	Outcomes, n	Exercise performance percentage change		Heterogeneity
		Mean (95% CI)	p value	I2 value	p value
All categories
Overall	227	− 7.56 (− 11.9 to − 3.13)	0.001	98.1	< 0.001
Sleep-loss condition
Deprivation	97	− 5.25 (− 8.01 to − 2.48)	< 0.001	96.5	< 0.001
Restriction	130	− 8.59 (− 13.6 to − 3.61)	0.001	98.3	< 0.001
Early restriction	62	− 5.85 (− 13.4 to 1.66)	0.125	93.5	< 0.001
Late restriction	60	− 7.39 (− 10.1 to − 4.66)	< 0.001	98.3	< 0.001
Anaerobic power
Overall	58	− 6.26 (− 9.10 to − 3.41)	< 0.001	98.1	< 0.001
Sleep-loss condition
Deprivation	25	− 6.39 (− 11.7 to − 1.09)	0.020	99.2	< 0.001
Restriction	33	− 5.99 (− 9.22 to − 2.77)	0.001	94.1	< 0.001
Early restriction	11	− 0.50 (− 2.00 to 1.00)	0.477	0.04	0.770
Late restriction	22	− 7.47 (− 11.1 to − 3.85)	< 0.001	95.4	< 0.001
Speed/power endurance
Overall	32	− 2.90 (− 4.97 to − 0.82)	0.008	96.3	< 0.001
Sleep-loss condition
Deprivation	12	− 2.93 (− 8.05 to 2.18)	0.233	91.1	< 0.001
Restriction	20	− 3.23 (− 5.94 to − 0.53)	0.022	96.4	< 0.001
Early restriction	7	0.49 (− 2.05 to 3.04)	0.652	24.4	0.366
Late restriction	13	− 4.38 (− 7.15 to − 1.62)	0.005	97.3	< 0.001
HIIE
Overall	27	− 6.15 (− 10.5 to − 1.77)	0.008	98.9	< 0.001
Sleep-loss condition
Deprivation	9	− 2.38 (− 12.1 to 7.32)	0.587	99.0	< 0.001
Restriction	18	− 8.77 (− 13.3 to − 4.27)	0.001	98.3	< 0.001
Early restriction	8	− 3.15 (− 9.68 to 3.37)	0.291	73.2	0.001
Late restriction	10a	− 11.5 (− 16.3 to − 6.71)	< 0.001	99.2	< 0.001
Strength
Overall	66	− 2.85 (− 4.47 to − 1.23)	< 0.001	62.2	< 0.001
Sleep-loss condition
Deprivation	29	− 3.00 (− 4.52 to − 1.48)	< 0.001	49.2	< 0.001
Restriction	37	− 2.77 (− 6.75 to 1.21)	0.167	74.9	< 0.001
Early restriction	26	− 1.16 (− 2.57 to 0.25)	0.102	0.02	0.952
Late restriction	11	− 4.45 (− 9.30 to 0.41)	0.068	83.7	< 0.001
Endurance
Overall	22	− 5.55 (− 8.12 to − 2.99)	< 0.001	86.5	< 0.001
Sleep-loss condition
Deprivation	14a	− 6.75 (− 10.3 to − 3.25)	< 0.001	91.2	< 0.001
Restriction	8	− 3.27 (− 5.06 to − 1.47)	0.004	< 0.001	0.914
Early restriction	2a	− 5.28 (− 9.17 to − 1.39)	0.008	0.00	0.798
Late restriction	3a	− 3.72 (− 6.96 to − 0.47)	0.025	< 0.001	0.620
Strength-endurance
Overall	9	− 9.85 (− 19.6 to − 0.13)	0.048	85.4	< 0.001
Deprivation	6	− 6.06 (− 14.9 to 2.80)	0.139	45.6	0.255
Restriction	3	− 18.3 (− 35.6 to − 0.96)	0.045	88.3	0.001
Skill
Overall	13	− 20.9 (− 27.0 to − 14.9)	< 0.001	94.1	< 0.001
Sleep-loss condition
Deprivation	2a	− 20.9 (− 23.6 to − 18.2)	< 0.001	0.00	0.342
Restriction	11	− 21.0 (− 29.1 to − 12.9)	< 0.001	95.4	< 0.001
Early restriction	8	− 23.9 (− 33.6 to − 14.2)	< 0.001	94.8	< 0.001
Late restriction	1

A negative effect estimate indicates a decrease in performance under the intervention condition (‘sleep loss’)

Deprivation: participants did not sleep for an extended period of time (i.e., whole night); restriction: total sleep time ≤ 6 h in any 24 h period—this category is a combination of early restriction, late restriction, fragmented sleep and non-specified sleep restriction protocols; early restriction: participants delayed sleep (i.e., went to sleep at a later time); late restriction; participants awakened earlier than normal

HIIE high-intensity interval exercise, CI confidence interval

^aAll outcomes were from independent studies and the meta-analysis was run without dependency levels (i.e., simple meta-analysis)