The effect of arginine supplementation following sleep deprivation on carbohydrate and fat metabolism, balance and fatigue index in female athlete students

Sleep deprivation is one of common phenomena in athletes. The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of arginine supplementation following sleep deprivation on carbohydrate and fat metabolism, balance and fatigue index in female athletic students.

The study population included all undergraduate female students of Sport Sciences at Imam Khomeini International University (age: 22.2± 2.16 years, BMI: 230.15±2.59 kg/m2) of whom 8 volunteered took part in the research. All experiments were performed in laboratory of university in 2020. Subjects were classified into four groups: Control, Sleep deprivation, Arginine and Arginine-sleep deprivation. Lactometer was used to measure blood lactate. Best Balance device was used to measure balance and GAS Analyzer was used to measure metabolism. Data was analyzed by analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).

Sleep deprivation significantly decreased static balance (P=0.01) and dynamic balance (P= 0.004) while arginine consumption resulted in improved static balance in sleep deprivation arginine group (P=0.03). It was also shown that lactic acid levels were lower in the two groups that took arginine than in the groups that did not take arginine (P≤0.05).

Arginine consumption can improve static and dynamic balance as well as mitigate side effects of sleep deprivation on static balance.