Research summary · Sleep and recovery
A multi-ingredient sleep blend showed little repeatable benefit in U17 footballers
Twelve male footballers aged about sixteen completed two active and two placebo periods, each lasting two days after post-match rest days. The blend contained cherry ingredients, cocoa extract, tryptophan, 5-hydroxytryptophan, glycine, magnesium and theanine. Actigraphy measured sleep in the athletes' normal environment.
- Publication year
- 2026
- First published online
- Publication type
- Randomized two-cycle replicate placebo-controlled crossover trial
- Journal
- Science and Medicine in Football
- Population / context
- Football · Male professional academy players · Youth development
What the publication reports
Average placebo-adjusted changes in sleep duration, waking after sleep onset, time to fall asleep and sleep efficiency were trivial. Individual responses did not reproduce reliably between cycles: correlations ranged from −0.25 to 0.17. Repeated testing therefore did not support classifying these players as consistent sleep responders to this particular blend.
Limits and interpretation
Twelve boys and short exposure periods cannot exclude smaller effects or establish longer-term safety. Results concern a combined product, not the efficacy of each ingredient separately. The study did not test match performance, women or adults and does not justify recommending the blend to minors.
Read the source
Consult the original record for the full author list, methods, references, funding and competing-interest disclosures.
Individual effects of a nutritional supplementation blend on sleep in professional under-17 footballers: a replicate crossover trial
Original publication / indexed recordPMID: 42836311DOI: 10.1080/24733938.2026.2741064Full text at the sourceReader discussion
Discuss the evidence.
Ask a question, share a source or discuss the methods. Respectful disagreement is welcome. Every comment and reply is reviewed before publication.
Loading comments…