A recent study examined how rest patterns relate to injury rates
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Runners who sleep less or have poor sleep quality and more sleep problems are significantly more likely to report injuries.
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Researchers grouped runners into distinct sleep profiles to better understand how patterns of sleep relate to injury risk.
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Those with the poorest sleep were nearly twice as likely to sustain a running-related injury over a year.
If youre a runner whether youre gearing up for your next 5K or just enjoy pounding the pavement on weekends injuries are a familiar risk.
However, a new study suggests the culprit might not just be how far you run or how heavy your training load is it could also be how well (or poorly) you sleep.
Researchers know sleep is essential for repairing muscles, regulating hormones, and keeping your focus sharp. But until now, the relationship between specific sleep patterns and running injuries hasnt been thoroughly explored in everyday runners. Thats what a team led by Professor Jan de Jonge set out to investigate.
While runners specifically focus on mileage, nutrition and recovery strategies, sleep tends to fall to the bottom of the list, de Jonge said in a news release.
Our research shows that poor sleepers were 1.78 times more likely to report injuries than those with stable, good quality sleep, with a 68% likelihood of sustaining an injury over a 12-month period. Thats a strong reminder that how well you rest is just as important as how hard you train.
The study
Rather than just asking runners how many hours of sleep they got, the research team took a deeper look at sleep in several dimensions how long runners slept, how good their sleep was, and whether they struggled with sleep problems like difficulty falling asleep or waking up frequently.
About 425 recreational runners filled out surveys about their sleep and injury history. Using that information, researchers used a statistical method called latent profile analysis to sort runners into four sleep profiles based on their sleep characteristics:
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Steady Sleepers, with average sleep and fewer problems.
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Poor Sleepers, who got less sleep and reported worse quality and more disruptions.
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Efficient Sleepers, with decent duration and high sleep quality.
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Fragmented Sleepers, who had mixed signals some sleep issues despite average sleep time.
This approach let the team explore whether patterns of sleep not just hours logged were linked to injury risk.
What the results showed
When researchers compared injury rates across the sleep profiles, a clear pattern emerged: runners in the Poor Sleepers group were significantly more likely to report injuries over the previous 12 months compared with the Steady Sleepers.
In fact, poor sleepers were about 1.78 times more likely to have been injured, translating to roughly a 68% chance of reporting a running injury in a year.
Other sleep profiles didnt show a meaningful difference in injury risk compared with the reference group. But this link between poor sleep and injury risk suggests that sleep isnt just a nice-to-have it might be a factor worth prioritizing alongside training and recovery if you want to keep your runs injury-free.
Sleep is a vital biological process that allows the body and mind to recover and adapt to the physical and mental demands of training, de Jonge said . When sleep is disrupted or insufficient, the bodys ability to repair tissues, regulate hormones and maintain focus diminishes, all of which can increase injury risk.
Runners especially those balancing training with work, family and social commitments may actually need more sleep than average adults to recover properly. Sleep should be treated as a performance priority, not an afterthought.
Posted: 2026-02-23 20:48:25
