Natalia Galan-Lopez, from the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, will work alongside international colleagues to investigate optimum Olympic and Paralympic athlete health and performance.
The study will leverage existing data from athlete monitoring systems relative to sleep and general athlete health.
As well as identifying and exploring the risk-factors for athletes suffering from poor sleep, including those associated with gender, ethnicity and whether an individual is an Olympic or Paralympic athlete. The data will also explore the relationship between sleep and an athlete’s injury and illness history.
Finally, female athlete Sports Medicine priorities will be identified through the athlete voice and interventional studies explored to optimise female athlete health and performance.
Dr Lee Taylor and Dr William Adams from the USOPC will work alongside Natalia, with the researchers presenting evidence-informed recommendations to improve the sleep of those assessed as well as optimisation of para-athlete and female athletes/women’s health and performance.
“It is fantastic to be collaborating with the USOPC, an IOC research centre of excellence and the largest member of the Olympic and Paralympic movement,” Dr Taylor said.
“Their commitment to optimising athlete health and performance alongside their Sports Medicine research priorities, including specific focus on female and Paralympic athletes, are exciting to be involved with.
“It reflects well upon the sport and Sport Medicine focused world-leading research conducted within the School, that we are now collaborating with the USOPC.”
Natalia Galan-Lopezadded: “I am delighted to have started a fully funded PhD with the School and USOPC – I am genuinely thankful for this opportunity.
“Being passionate about female athlete health and performance, it is exciting to be pursuing a PhD in this space with elite Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Equally, I am very happy to be back at Loughborough after several years away. I look forward to working with my supervisors within and outside of the School, including those at the USOPC.”
William Adams, Associate Director, Sports Medicine Research, at the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) said:
“The USOPC is excited for the opportunity to collaborate with Loughborough University by supporting Natalia as part of her PhD studies.
“Loughborough University’s School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences is world-renowned with its faculty producing impactful research in the field of sport and exercise science. This collaboration will expand the breadth of high-quality research conducted in alignment with the USOPC’s Department of Sports Medicine’s Research Agenda that is focused in preventing injuries and illnesses in sport.”
The research team will now commence data collection and analysis and can also be found on Twitter. Dr Lee Taylor (@DrLeeTaylor), Natalia Galan-Lopez (@NataliaGalan14), William Adams (@william_m_adams).