The aim of this study was to examine the effect of delayed evening mealtime on sleep quality in young athletes. Twelve rugby players (age 15.8 ± 0.7 years) participated in a crossover within-participant design. Adolescents spent five consecutive days in each of two conditions, separated by a 2-week washout period: routine dinner (3.5 hr before bedtime) and late dinner (LD, 1.5 hr before bedtime). Other mealtimes as well as bedtime and wake-up time were usual and remained the same in both conditions. Their schedules, dietary intakes, and physical activity were controlled and kept constant throughout the study. Sleep was assessed using polysomnography on the first and the last nights in the individual rooms of the boarding school. An increase in total sleep time by 24 min (p = .001, d = 1.24) and sleep efficiency by 4.8% was obtained during LD (p = .001, d = 1.24). Improvement in sleep efficiency was mainly due to a lower wake after sleep onset (−25 min, p = .014, d = −3.20), a decrease of microarousals (−25%, p = .049, d = −0.64), and awakenings ≥90 s (−30%, p < .01, d = −0.97) in LD compared to routine dinner. There were no significant differences in sleep architecture except for a shorter slow-wave sleep (N3) latency (−6.9 min, p = .03, d = −0.778) obtained during LD. In this study, evening dinner 1.5 hr before bedtime leads to better quality and less fragmented sleep compared to evening dinner 3.5 hr before bedtime in young athletes.

本研究的目的是检查延迟晚餐时间对年轻运动员睡眠质量的影响。十二名橄榄球运动员（年龄 15.8 ± 0.7 岁）参与了参与者内交叉设计。青少年连续 5 天在两种情况下度过，间隔为 2 周的清除期：常规晚餐（睡前 3.5 小时）和晚晚餐（LD，睡前 1.5 小时）。其他进餐时间以及就寝时间和起床时间都很正常，并且在两种情况下都保持不变。在整个研究过程中，他们的日程安排、饮食摄入量和身体活动受到控制并保持不变。在寄宿学校的各个房间的第一晚和最后一晚使用多导睡眠图评估睡眠。总睡眠时间增加 24 分钟 ( p  = .001, d = 1.24) 并且在 LD 期间获得 4.8% 的睡眠效率 ( p  = .001, d  = 1.24)。睡眠效率的改善主要是由于入睡后觉醒时间减少（−25 分钟，p  = .014，d  = −3.20），微觉醒减少（−25%，p  = .049，d  = −0.64），与 常规晚餐相比，LD 中的觉醒时间≥90 秒（−30%，p  < .01，d = −0.97）。除了较短的慢波睡眠 (N3) 潜伏期（-6.9 分钟，p  = .03，d = −0.778) 在 LD 期间获得。在这项研究中，与睡前 3.5 小时的晚餐相比，年轻运动员睡前 1.5 小时的晚餐可以带来更好的睡眠质量和更少的睡眠碎片。