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Sleep is a foundational pillar for athletic performance and nutrition. When athletes don’t get enough sleep, key appetite hormones are disrupted, glucose metabolism is impaired, and cortisol levels rise—resulting in increased hunger, greater fat storage, and slower recovery. Student athletes are particularly at risk due to demanding schedules and early school start times, which often limit sleep. By integrating sleep hygiene into nutrition and training plans, athletes can enhance performance, recovery, and body composition. Nutritional strategies, such as mindful caffeine use and sleep-promoting foods, further support sleep quality. Prioritizing sleep is essential for optimal energy, decision-making, and long-term success, though more athlete-focused research is needed to refine these approaches.
Course Objectives
Course
Credits
Course Expiration
ACSM
1
11/21/2028
BOC
1
11/21/2028
Commission on Dietetic Registration
1
12/09/2028
CSCCa
1
12/01/2028
Athletes’ use of supplements is highly prevalent across sport and competitive levels. High prevalence is combined with indiscriminate use. This remains a concern in sport as it can lead to negative health effects and the risk of committing an anti-doping rule violation. Consequences of committing an anti-doping rule violation through supplement use are significant for competitive athletes due to the principle of strict liability. The principle of strict liability interacts with a growing and professionally marketed industry that is poorly regulated. Consequently, competitive athletes can find themselves in a vulnerable and risky position when it comes to consuming supplements. Dr Susan Backhouse discusses adopting a behavioral approach and adherence to RMSUG to help identify what needs to change to protect athletes from unintentionally doping through indiscriminate supplement use.
Course Objectives
Course
Credits
Course Expiration
ACSM
1
12/27/2027
BOC
1
12/27/2027
Commission on Dietetic Registration
0.75
01/03/2028
CSCCa
1
12/27/2027
Buffering agents including sodium bicarbonate, beta-alanine and sodium citrate are routinely used by athletes, and effects of buffering agents on athletes’ performance have been investigated since as early as the 1930s. Extracellular buffering agents, including sodium bicarbonate and sodium citrate, can increase the blood’s buffering capacity (pH and [HCO3-]), and intracellular buffering via beta-alanine supplementation can increase muscle carnosine concentration. The recent International Olympic Committee consensus statement on nutritional supplements reported that for sodium bicarbonate and beta-alanine, there is scientific evidence for beneficial effects on athletes’ performance. There is also growing evidence that sodium citrate can be effective in improving performance. There is a high prevalence of the use of supplements and buffering agents within athletic populations and consideration of the use of buffering agents in specific contexts relevant to athletes is therefore warranted. Contexts that have been investigated within the literature to only a limited extent include the use of buffering agents in highly trained female athletes, in extreme environmental conditions (e.g., training and/or competing in hot weather conditions or at altitude) and when using combinations of buffering agents. Recently, it has been demonstrated that the effectiveness of extracellular and intracellular buffering agents can be influenced by modifying factors, such as the dose, timing, duration, and intensity of exercise performed. Additionally, the translation of research findings in buffering agents to highly trained athletes can be influenced by the design factors of research studies (e.g., use of crossover or matched group study design, familiarisation trials, pre-test dietary standardisation, performance tests that were representative of the real-world competitive demands of athletes) and athlete-specific factors (e.g., recruitment of highly-trained athletes as research participants, measures of buffering capacity, and reported improvements in performance tests that replicate real-world competitive events). There is therefore further scope to provide a practical evaluation of the evidence on buffering agents, which may be particularly relevant to performance support practitioners and coaches seeking to implement an evidence-based buffering protocol for their athletes.
Course Objectives
Course
Credits
Course Expiration
ACSM
1
11/12/2027
BOC
1
11/12/2027
Commission on Dietetic Registration
1
12/06/2027
CSCCa
1
11/12/2027