Taliyah Walker

Sleep Quality Versus Quality and Athletic Performance

Biography

Hi, my name is Taliyah, and I’m a fourth year Professional Communication Major, Minoring in Psychology. As a Varsity Athlete for Toronto Metropolitan University, I am interested in investigating how Sport, Psychology and Communication can all intersect through research and experimentation.  With a background in science, my interests lie within scientific communication, turning complex data into easy and understandable information, accessible to various audiences. As a communication major, personal storytelling guides how I interact with the world around me, and I believe that everyone has a unique story they deserve to tell, no matter the genre.

My hopes for this research project are that the study can be used as a platform for research focusing specifically on the experiences of varsity athletes and their sleep quality. In addition to this, more research regarding women in sport. Not enough research is available on these two topics, and as a female student athlete, I understand how important intersectional scientific research is to understanding the needs of diverse communities.

Details of Project

My project investigates the relationship between sleep quality, quantity, athletic performance and injury. My research question asked whether sleep quality or quantity were more important to overall athletic performance and injury risk. To assess this, I conducted an Autoethnography, or a self-study, taking insights from my own sleep metrics during the 2024 U-sport Soccer season. In addition to this, I conducted a Meta-analysis of various sport psychology articles regarding sleep and performance, forming an all encompassing idea on the available research. After a robust methodological approach, I found various insights that I believe would be very helpful to the growing landscape of sport science and psychology, potentially helping to initiate new studies regarding athletic performance and sleep quality.

Lightning talk

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