ORCID
Maryam Yuhas: 0000-0001-9416-0950
Katherine M. Kidwell: 0000-0001-6922-6831
Jessica L. Garay: 0000-0001-8162-7742
Document Type
Article
Date
Spring 5-13-2026
Keywords
collegiate athletes, student-athletes, sports nutrition, sleep health, behavior change, behavioral science, behavior change techniques, intervention development, implementation science, scoping review
Language
English
Disciplines
Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms | Nutrition | Public Health | Sports Sciences | Sports Studies
Description/Abstract
Nutrition and sleep are key health behaviors supporting athletic performance. Collegiate athletes in the United States (U.S.) are at high risk of insufficient dietary intake and nightly sleep given the competing demands of elite sports and academics. Researchers have developed interventions to improve collegiate athletes’ sleep and nutrition, either individually or collectively. However, progress in understanding how best to create sustained behavior change in this population has been slow. This may be due to the lack of application of behavioral science principles such as lack of a guiding theory, effective strategies, and consideration of implementation contexts. This scoping review takes a behavioral science lens on nutrition and sleep interventions among collegiate athletes, with an emphasis on the application of theory and behavior change techniques (BCTs). A systematic search of PubMed, Scopus, SPORTDiscus, and PsycINFO was conducted to identify studies published between 2015 and 2025. The inclusion criteria were: 1) study must have targeted collegiate athletes in the U.S. and 2) an intervention was conducted with outcomes related to nutrition or sleep. Nine studies were found that met the inclusion criteria. Most interventions focused on nutrition (78%), with limited attention to sleep (22%) and no interventions addressed both behaviors together. From these, only three studies explicitly applied behavioral theory, and only one described how theoretical constructs informed intervention components. The most commonly coded BCT groupings were Goals and Planning, Social Support, and Natural Consequences. The two most frequently coded individual BCTs were instruction on how to perform the behavior (BCT 4.1) and unspecified social support (BCT 3.1). Although knowledge gains were observed in the studies identified, behavioral outcomes were mixed and often modest. Several implementation challenges were noted, including scheduling constraints, competing demands, and inadequate environmental support. The findings suggest current interventions for nutrition and sleep in collegiate athletes are not adequately utilizing behavioral science principles. Additionally, research has not adequately evaluated how to support and encourage sustained behavior change within the structural realities of collegiate sport. Future research in this space should focus on theory-driven and multilevel approaches. Furthermore, interventions should consider integrating nutrition and sleep behaviors, and explicitly target the contextual constraints shaping athlete behavior.
Recommended Citation
Yuhas, Maryam; Kidwell, Katherine M.; Moskuna, Olivia; Mandal, Rajib; and Garay, Jessica L., "Behavioral Science Applications in Collegiate Athlete Nutrition and Sleep: A Scoping Review" (2026). Nutrition - All Scholarship. 62.
https://surface.syr.edu/nutrition/62
Supplemental File 1
Supplemental File 2 Detailed Search Strategy.docx (25 kB)
Supplemental File 2
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Included in
Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms Commons, Nutrition Commons, Public Health Commons, Sports Sciences Commons, Sports Studies Commons
Additional Information
Version note: This is the author-submitted preprint of a manuscript currently under peer review at Sports Medicine. It has not yet been peer reviewed.