VFF cooperates with VSSM on improving the quality of athletes’ health

Today morning (July 26), at VFF’s house, a meeting between leaders of VFF and the Vietnam Society of Sleep Medicine (VSSM) was held to discuss the contents related to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to conduct in-depth research on the health sciences, especially the effect of sleep quality on athletes’ performance.

26/07/2022 17:58:17

Attending the meeting, from the VFF side, there were Ph.D. Cao Van Chong – Vice President; Doctor Nguyen Van Phu – Director of Vietnam Anti-Doping Agency, Member of the Medical Committee; Mr. Nguyen Minh Chau – Deputy Secretary General. On the VSSM side, there were Prof.Dr. Duong Quy Sy – President of VSSM, Head of Training – Scientific Research Committee of ASEAN Sleep Federation, Vice President of Vietnam Respiratory Society, Professor of Penn State Medical University – USA; Dr. Tran Thanh Dinh – Standing Committee member, Chairman of the Society of Sleep Medicine in Central Highlands – Southeast; Dr. Nguyen Van Toi – Deputy Secretary General of VSSM.

Sharing at the meeting, Prof. Dr. Duong Quy Sy said that VSSM is very honored to cooperate with VFF in improving the health quality of athletes, specifically the players. Prof. Dr. Duong Quy Sy and VSSM believe that with the consensus and support from VFF, the research will contribute to improving the achievements of the teams. “Vietnamese football has good achievements. All aspects from the treatment of injuries to nutrition for the players are comprehensively cared for and invested by VFF. However, in life, 1/3 of the time is sleep which also needs more attention. Sleep disturbances can easily affect sports performance and cause distraction.

On behalf of the VFF Medical Committee, Doctor. Nguyen Van Phu affirmed that health care is a factor that needs to be calculated to be suitable for each team at specific levels. “Currently, Vietnam has no basic study on the sleep of football players, only statistical indicators of sleeping time or changes in health after waking up. Although there have been no cases at the level of special intervention, this is an issue that requires comprehensive views and research, and the Medical Committee highly appreciates this cooperation with VSSM”.

Prof. Dr.Duong Quy Sy added that the issue related to sleep is also of great concern, the use of electronics before sleep is not good because blue light will negatively affect sleep.

Doctor. Nguyen Van Phu also pointed out factors that can affect the quality of sleep of different groups and create effects on the players’ ability to practice and compete.

The meeting discussed the direct effects of sleep on player performance. When sleeping does not guarantee the time and does not conform to circadian rhythms such as jetlag when training or competing oversea that does not have the same meridian as Vietnam, if there is no suitable adjustment, the performance of each player and the team will be affected. According to Prof. Dr.Duong Quy Sy, the fact that professional players often have to go to away matches and in countries with different time zones will affect their health if sleep is not guaranteed. However, if there are appropriate adjustments, the adaptation to not too serious and they can be overcome. With existing human resources and equipment, VSSM can support the evaluation and analysis of players’ indexes to make effective adjustments.

On behalf of VFF, Vice President Cao Van Chong hopes that VFF and VSSM will cooperate effectively with many extensive studies, both in the short and long term, bringing good results to the next generations of athletes.

Based on the meeting, VFF and VSSM agreed to implement items of measurement, data collection and sleep quality assessment for young teams gathered at VFF, at the same time, planning sleep adjustment for teams that will participate in international competitions, in order to minimize the negative effects on the players’ performance. In addition, VSSM will connect to organize specialized sports medicine seminars, and short-term training programs as the order subject of VFF, thereby contributing to improving knowledge of sports physical medicine for members of the sport’s family, particularly football.

The cooperation program between VFF and VSSM is expected to kick off in the fourth quarter of 2022, starting with a group of U14 and U16 female players gathered at the Vietnam Youth Football Training Center.

Ph.D. Cao Van Chong – VFF Vice President and Prof. Dr. Duong Quy Sy met at a previous seminar