The Association between Snoring, Daytime Sleepiness and Obesity in Professional Wrestlers

Aim: To investigate the prevalence of snoring, excessive daytime sleepiness and other sleep symptoms in a group of professional wrestlers and to identify the risk factors of snoring in these subjects. Methods: A questionnaire was administered to 55 professional wrestlers and 44 age matched men. All subjects answered nine questions about their sleep and snoring habits and self-graded on a scale of 0 to 4. The questions were also related to demographic characteristics, Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) and general medical history. Results: There were no significant differences in age, smoking and alcohol intake between wrestlers and control subjects. Obesity (p=0.004) was significantly more common and neck circumference (p=0.004) significantly higher in wrestlers than in control subjects. Bed time were significantly early (p=0.006), wake time significantly late (p=0.014), total sleep time significantly higher (p<0.001) in wrestlers when compared to control subjects. Habitual snoring rated was reported by 9.1% of wrestlers and by 6.8% of control subjects (p>0.05). The prevalence of excessive daytime sleepiness, witnessed apnea, morning headache, restless leg, insomnia, sleep talking, sleep walking and mean ESS were not significantly different in wrestlers when compared to control subjects. Conclusion: There were no significant differences with respect to habitual snoring, daytime sleepiness and ESS between wrestlers and control subjects. However, obesity and large neck circumference were much more common among wrestlers.