'The forgotten session': Advancing research and practice concerning the psychology of rest in athletes

This article provides a review of literature on the psychology of rest in athletes with the aim of advancing research and practice in this area. While the concept of rest represents an important component of several key topics in sport psychology, researchers and practitioners have paid relatively little attention to this concept and to psychological aspects of rest in particular. We review literature in three sport psychology topic areas within which the concept of rest in athletes has received theoretical or empirical attention, which are recovery, skill learning, and expertise development. For each area, we describe how rest has received little direct research attention within this literature, identify how this shortcoming limits current theory, research, and practice, and propose directions for future research and practice. We then describe a recent study that has attempted to address the paucity of research on this topic by prioritizing an understanding of the psychology of rest in athletes. We also explore reasons why rest has received little attention in sport psychology with the rationale that an increased awareness of these reasons will help advance research and practice in our field. We conclude by considering implications of our review for best practice. Lay summary: Rest is critical to athlete performance and well-being, yet researchers and practitioners have paid little attention to psychological aspects of rest. We review the sport psychology literature to identify directions for research aimed at advancing our understanding of rest and practical guidelines to help athletes obtain the rest they require. Implications for Practice Practitioners should consider that recovery following training and competitions does not just involve recovering physically; it involves recovering psychologically Recovering psychologically depends in part on engagement in high-quality sleep and wakeful resting High-quality wakeful resting involves obtaining specific resting experiences such as not thinking about or “psychologically detaching from” one’s sport.