"The margin for error": Ritual coping with cultural pressures

The influence of blue light on sleep, performance and wellbeing in young adults: A systematic review

Introduction: Blue light from electronic devices has a bad reputation. It has a wavelength which may influence our circadian rhythm and cause bad sleep. But there are other aspects of blue light exposure which are often overlooked, for example, it may influence performance and wellbeing. However, few resources summarize its effects systematically. Therefore, the goal of this systematic review was to distil the present evidence on blue light exposure and its influence on sleep, performance and wellbeing and discuss its significance for athletes.

Methods: The databases that were searched were Cochrane, Embase, Pubmed, Scopus, and Virtual Health Library. The studies included investigated the influence of blue light exposure on either sleep, performance, wellbeing or a combination of those parameters on healthy humans. Quality assessment was done based on the quantitative assessment tool “QualSyst.”

Results: Summarizing the influence of blue light exposure, the following results were found (expressed as proportion to the number of studies investigating the particular parameter): Fifty percent of studies found tiredness to be decreased. One fifth of studies found sleep quality to be decreased and one third found sleep duration to be decreased. Half of the studies found sleep efficacy to be decreased and slightly less than half found sleep latency to be increased. More than one half of the studies found cognitive performance to be increased. Slightly more than two thirds found alertness to be increased and reaction time to be decreased. Slightly less than half of the studies found wellbeing to be increased.

Conclusion: Blue light exposure can positively affect cognitive performance, alertness, and reaction time. This might benefit sports reliant on team-work and decision-making and may help prevent injury. Blue light might also have negative effects such as the decrease in sleep quality and sleep duration, which might worsen an athlete’s physical and cognitive performance and recovery. Further research should explore if blue light can improve sleep, performance and wellbeing to significantly benefit athletic performance.

Sport psychiatry and psychotherapeutic intervention, circa 2016

The focus of this paper is to provide an update on the use of psychotherapy as a treatment in sport psychiatry, and the use of this approach to address common psychiatric issues encountered with this population. Specifically, family therapy, individual therapy, and group psychotherapy prescribed alone, or in combination with medication, will be examined as methods to manage issues/disorders often associated with athletes. These include obsessive-compulsive rituals and perfectionism, and aggressive and risky behaviours, such as gambling, infidelity, substance use, and suicidal ideation, narcissism, and aggression in the context of individual and team competitive sports.