title: Red light and the sleep quality and endurance performance of Chinese female basketball players.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Good sleep is an important recovery method for prevention and treatment of overtraining in sport practice. Whether sleep is regulated by melatonin after red-light irradiation in athletes is unknown.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the effect of red light  on sleep quality and endurance performance of Chinese female basketball players.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cohort study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Athletic training facility of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and research laboratory of the China Institute of Sport Science.  Patients  or Other Participants: Twenty athletes of the Chinese People's Liberation Army team (age = 18.60 6 3.60 years) took part in the study. Participants were divided into red-light treatment (n = 10) and placebo (n = 10) groups.
  
  
  METHODS
  The red-light treatment participants received 30 minutes of irradiation from a red-light therapy instrument every night for 14 days. The placebo group did not receive light illumination.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index  (PSQI) questionnaire was completed, serum melatonin was assessed, and 12-minute run was performed at preintervention (baseline) and postintervention (14 days).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 14-day whole-body irradiation with red-light treatment improved the sleep, serum melatonin level, and  endurance performance of the elite female basketball players (P < .05). We found a correlation between changes in global Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and serum melatonin levels (r = -0.695, P = .006).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study confirmed the effectiveness  of body irradiation with red light in improving the quality of sleep of elite female basketball players and offered a nonpharmacologic and noninvasive therapy to prevent sleep disorders after training.
authors.affiliation: Sport Biological Center, China Institute of Sport Science, No. 11 Tiyuguan Road, Dongcheng District, Beijing, China 100061. zhaojiexiu1@yahoo.com.cn
authors.forename: Jiexiu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Jinlei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nie
authors.forename: Jincheng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Dongsen
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D056352:Athletes; D001490:Basketball / Q000502:physiology*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002681:China; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008027:Light; D008029:Lighting; D008550:Melatonin / Q000097:blood* / Q000528:radiation effects; D010789:Phototherapy; D010807:Physical Endurance / Q000528:radiation effects*; D012890:Sleep / Q000528:radiation effects*; D014916:Whole-Body Irradiation
chemical_list: D008550:Melatonin