Sport Psychology at Leipzig University

📱💤 Does social media before bedtime affect sleep?

We are excited to share a new publication by our colleague Patricia Frytz and colleagues at the Universität Salzburg.

Published in the Journal of Sleep Research, the study investigated how objectively measured social media use in the two hours before bedtime relates to sleep quality in adolescents and young adults. Using smartphone tracking and actigraphy, the researchers found that longer pre-bedtime social media use was associated with lower sleep efficiency and more fragmented sleep on weekends. Interestingly, participants often felt that they had slept deeply, even when objective measures indicated poorer sleep. These findings highlight the importance of combining objective and subjective sleep measures to better understand how evening social media use affects sleep.

📖 Read the paper here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jsr.70405

📸 Nubelson Fernandes on Unsplash.

Our team had a fantastic time at the Congress in Timișoara, Romania 🇷🇴!

We were proud to contribute to the scientific programme with numerous symposia, oral presentations, and posters. It was especially great to see so many of our current and former master's students joining us this year.

A heartfelt thank you to Alexandru Boncu and his team for organising such an outstanding congress and for creating a welcoming atmosphere, both scientifically and socially. We thoroughly enjoyed the experience and are already looking forward to the next FEPSAC Congress!

At the European College of Sport Science - ECSS Annual Congress in Lausanne, Anne-Marie Elbe and Nadja Walter presented Leipzig’s bid for hosting the ECSS Congress 2029 to the ECSS Executive Board and Office. We are grateful to Juliane Heydenreich, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Sport Science at UNIVERSITÄT LEIPZIG, and Ronald Kötteritzsch from Congress Center Leipzig for their valuable support in this process.

The 31st ECSS Annual Congress was a wonderful event, and we sincerely thank Bengt Kayser and Kamiar Aminian for the fantastic organisation.

💤 Can basic psychological needs satisfaction improve athletes’ sleep?

We are excited to share a new publication in Psychology of Sport and Exercise by Patricia Frytz and Anne-Marie Elbe examining the relationship between psychological need satisfaction and sleep in competitive athletes.

Using both actigraphy and daily surveys, the study found that athletes experienced an average sleep deficit of 1.26 hours per night and obtained less sleep than needed to feel rested on more than 80 % of recorded nights. Importantly, higher satisfaction of general and sleep-specific basic psychological needs was associated with better sleep quality and lower sleep deficit. Competence satisfaction was also associated with longer sleep duration and faster sleep onset.

These findings highlight psychological need satisfaction as a potential target for supporting athletes’ sleep and recovery.

📖 Read the paper here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2026.103181

📸 Slaapwijsheid.nl on Unsplash

🏆 Congratulations to our PhD student Patricia Frytz! 🏆

In early June, Patricia attended the Enyssp Conference in Budapest, where she presented her research “Linking Daily Stress and Training Load to Individual Sleep Requirements in Athletes.”

We are delighted to share that her presentation was recognised with the Best Oral Presentation Award! 🎉

The award highlights the importance of understanding how daily demands influence athletes’ sleep needs and recovery. We are proud to see Patricia’s work receiving such recognition and look forward to following the next steps of this exciting research.

Once again, Nils Gatzmaga, sport psychologist at RB Leipzig, invited our master's students and the students from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg to an open house. Nearly 50 students very actively engaged with Nils about his tasks, philosophy and career at a football academy. Thank you for the valuable insights and tremendous learning experience.

We are delighted to share that Anne-Marie Elbe was awarded the German Association of Sport Psychology’s (asp) “Goldene Hand” for excellent supervision of PhD students at this year’s asp conference in Heidelberg. 🎉

What a wonderful and well-deserved recognition – and one that came as a complete surprise to her!

📸 1, 2 & 3: Jannik Ohr

Reminder: the European College of Sport Science - ECSS Webinar “New Approaches to Doping Prevention” takes place today from 3 to 5 pm CEST.

You can still register via your ECSS account:
https://www.ecss2006.com/ASP/TOOLS/ECSS_Account/Login.asp

Creating an account is free. After logging in, click “Join ECSS Webinars” to complete your registration.

🚨 New Webinar Alert | New Approaches to Doping Prevention

Doping remains one of the most pressing threats to sport integrity and education is at the heart of the solution. 💡Our next ECSS Webinar dives into new, skill-based approaches to doping prevention, including value-based learning and virtual reality.

📅 Thursday, 4 June 2026
⏰ 15:00 – 17:00 CEST
🎤 Prof Ian Boardley | Prof Anne-Marie Elbe | Assoc Prof Vassilis Barkoukis

What's on the agenda?
✅ WADA’s International Standard for Education (ISE) - Implementation & impact
✅ Innovative, skills-based prevention programmes
✅ VR technology in anti-doping education
✅ Evaluation results from the latest programmes

Designed for sport scientists, coaches, performance practitioners and athletes.

🔗 Free for ECSS Members | €30 for Non-Members
👉 Log in to your ECSS Account and click ‘Join ECSS Webinars’ to register.
Not a member yet? Join via the link in bio!

We were pleased to welcome Professor Emma Guillet-Descas, Dr Virginie Nicaise, and Suzanne Thierry from Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Laboratoire sur les Vulnérabilités et l’Innovation dans le Sport (L-ViS) to UNIVERSITÄT LEIPZIG.

During their visit, they presented their research in our colloquium on the topic: “Antecedents of the Athlete Engagement: Coaches’ and Parents’ Influence Might be a Perfect Fit”.

The visit was part of our ongoing teaching collaboration, through which we share expertise with students at both institutions. While Leipzig team members regularly contribute to teaching in Lyon, this visit offered students and interested members of our faculty the opportunity to gain insights into current research from our colleagues in Lyon.

Thank you for visiting us and for the inspiring exchange!