Despite the growing popularity of relaxation training, the effectiveness of an autogenic training (AT) as a method of dealing with sleep problems in group of student athletes is unknown. Therefore, this study aimed to fill this gap. University athletes with decreased sleep quality (selected from 209 participants) were randomly assigned to the experimental (EG, n = 11) and control (CG, n = 11) groups similar in terms of sleep quality, age, gender, type of sport discipline and sport experience. During the 14 days dedicated to performing relaxation training in the form of an audio recording, electronic daily logs and actigraphy were used to monitor the athletes' sleep and daily activity. The EG listened to the recording with suggestions based on AT and CG only to the background music. Pre- and post-measurements of sleep quality by means of the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and physiological stress reactions by biofeedback device were performed. In EG and CG, the parameters of sleep and daily activity obtained by actigraphy and daily logs as well as physiological indicators of emotional reactivity did not differ. Sleep quality in PSQI significantly increased after AT usage in EG. AT seems to be an effective method for university athletes in improving subjective sleep quality, but further studies are necessary.
Keywords: actigraphy; athletes; autogenic training; ecological momentary assessment; physiological stress response; sleep; sleep quality.