Science
The research the BLOCKS assistant answers from: 1,118 studies and 81 guides, each graded for how strong the evidence is and who it was measured on, with a link to the original paper.
95 entries in Sleep, recovery & monitoring
B+Cold water works by cooling an overheated athlete, not by flushing metabolitesAnd the parasympathetic rebound that helps tomorrow can hurt a hard effort performed shortly afterwardsIhsan 2016C+Percussive Massage (Massage Gun)Acute ROM & stiffness effectsFukaya 2026BWearable technology metrics are associated with energy deficiency and psychological stress in elite swimmersLundstrom EA 2024B+The "dark side" of general health and fitness-related self-service technologies: A systematic review of the literature and directions for future researchChen H 2024C+Wearable technology for athletes: Information overload and pseudoscience?Halson SL 2016APlacebo and nocebo effects on sports and exercise performance: A systematic literature review updateChhabra B & Szabo A 2024C+The tale of orthosomnia: I am so good at sleeping that I can do it with my eyes closed and my fitness tracker on meJahrami H 2023B+Prevalence of orthosomnia in a general population sample: A cross-sectional studyJahrami H 2024C+Orthosomnia: Are some patients taking the quantified self too far?Baron KG 2017A-Placebo sleep affects cognitive functioningDraganich C & Erdal K 2014A-Sham sleep feedback delivered via actigraphy biases daytime symptom reports in people with insomnia: Implications for insomnia disorder and wearable devicesGavriloff D 2018C+Making sense of wearables dataAltini M 2024BLess is more — Cyclists-triathletes' 30 min cycling time-trial performance is impaired with multiple feedback compared to a single feedbackBayne F 2020B+Cycling in the absence of task-related feedback: Effects on pacing and performanceSmits BLM 2016BThe double-edged sword of self-tracking: investigating factors of technostress in performance-oriented cycling and triathlonWerner M & Bischof A 2024C+Mechanisms of decreased motoneurone excitation during passive muscle stretching: H-reflex falls 25% at a small stretch and about 54% at a larger one, and recovers as soon as the joint returns to neutralGuissard 2001C+Unraveling the Mechanisms of Manual Therapy: Modeling an ApproachMechanical force triggers systemic neurophysiological pain inhibition; overall treatment effects are smallBialosky 2021C+Does electrical stimulation enhance post-exercise performance recovery? Brief review: low-frequency NMES mimics active recovery, but evidence for physiological or soreness benefit is limitedBabault 2014ACompression Garments and Recovery from Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage: two meta-analyses (Hill 2014; Brown 2017)Hill 2017B+Water immersion for recovery: cold works, 10-15 °C for 5-15 min is the protocol, and whether hot or thermoneutral water does anything at all is genuinely unknown rather than known to be uselessVersey 2013AAn Evidence-Based Approach for Choosing Post-Exercise Recovery Techniques to Reduce Markers of Muscle Damage, Soreness, Fatigue, and Inflammation: A Systematic Review With Meta-AnalysisDupuy 2018BIntermittent-Sprint Performance and Muscle Glycogen after 30 h of Sleep DeprivationIn 10 team-sport athletes a sleepless night slowed sprints (2.78 vs 2.74 s), cut self-paced distance, lowered muscle glycogen (209 vs 274 mmol/kg dw) and voluntary force/activation, and worsened…Skein 2015A-Hold-relax and contract-relax (PNF) stretching for hamstrings flexibility: large immediate gains versus no intervention, conflicting results versus static stretchingSystematic review with meta-analysisCayco 2019A-Six weeks of static stretching increased ankle range of motion without changing muscle or tendon stiffness, fascicle length, passive torque or strengthThe gain is stretch tolerance, not tissueKonrad & Tilp 2018BRoller-Massager Application to the Hamstrings Increases Sit-and-Reach Range of Motion Within Five to Ten Seconds Without Performance ImpairmentsSullivan 2017C+Percussive massage: the one verified study shows more bench-press repetitions before a velocity-loss cut-off; the range-of-motion and stiffness claims are unverifiedKonrad 2021AA Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Foam Rolling on Performance and RecoveryWiewelhove 2019A-Effects of foam rolling on performance and recovery: A systematic review of the literature to guide practitioners on the use of foam rollingHendricks 2020CAcute:Chronic Workload Ratio (ACWR)Originally proposed, now without supporting evidence for injury managementImpellizzeri 2020BWearable device validation for sleep and night-time HR/HRVSix devices vs polysomnography/ECG in 53 healthy adults: sleep/wake agreement 86-89%, sleep-stage agreement only 50-65% (κ 0.20-0.52)Miller 2022BDaily HRV trends and their coefficient of variation: athletes with lower fitness or higher perceived fatigue show larger lnRMSSD reductions under high training loadFlatt 2017BTraining Prescription Guided by Heart-Rate Variability in Cycling17 well-trained cyclists, 8 weeks: the HRV-guided group improved peak power (+5.1%), power at VT2 (+13.9%) and 40-min TT (+7.3%) while the traditional group did not, but the between-group difference…Javaloyes 2019B+Training adaptation and heart rate variability in elite endurance athletes: opening the door to effective monitoringPlews 2013BThe effect of repetitive exercise on tensile changes in the infraspinatus muscle evaluated with ultrasound elastographyIn 10 healthy subjects, infraspinatus strain went 0.5 (baseline) → 0.7 immediately after a standardized exercise bout → 0.6 at day 1 → 0.4 at day 2: stiffness took up to 48 h to return within 10% of…Coale AT 2025BMechanical loading and fatigue-induced changes in triceps surae muscle-tendon unit: sex-specific responses and recovery dynamicsAfter standing calf raises to exhaustion in 22 active adults, peak torque fell and MTU passive stiffness rose immediately, then stiffness decreased by 24 h while contractility had only partly…Salatkaitė-Urbonė S 2026BDiurnal variations in the expression of core-clock genes correlate with resting muscle properties and predict fluctuations in exercise performance across the dayIn 21 healthy adults, exercise performance peaked in the late afternoon (15-18 h), resting muscle tone (MyotonPRO) varied across the day, and HIGHER tone went with BETTER performance; core-clock gene…Basti A 2021B+Effects of a Manual Treatment on Lumbar Microcirculation and Tissue Stiffness Following Submaximal Eccentric Trunk Extensor Exercise: A Randomized Controlled TrialIn 21 trained adults, submaximal eccentric trunk extension that caused NO soreness still raised erector spinae stiffness at 24 h (+0.875 m/s) and 48 h (+0.869 m/s); myofascial release lowered it…Brandl A 2024B+Multiple cryosauna sessions for post-exercise recovery of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS): a randomized control trialFour −110 °C sessions after 10 × 10 jumps lowered leukocytes (24-72 h) and creatine kinase (24-96 h) versus control; within the cryo group stiffness still rose at 48 h (and at 72 h in two muscles)…Wolska B 2023BThe Time-Course of Hamstring Muscle Passive Stiffness and Perceived Tightness After Strenuous ExerciseAfter prone leg curls to exhaustion in 24 subjects, semitendinosus stiffness peaked at 48 h (+9.7%) and was back to baseline at 96 h, while perceived hamstring tightness peaked at 24 h: feel and…Pieters D 2025BChange in skeletal muscle stiffness after running competition is dependent on both running distance and recovery time: a pilot studySWE of 8 leg muscles in 22 runners before and after races of 3-5, 10-13 or 26+ miles: 67% of muscles trended SOFTER immediately after the race; race distance affected biceps femoris, vastus lateralis…Sadeghi S 2018