Knowledge Nuggets

Adolescence is an important period of physical growth and the development of one’s relationship with food. Researchers assert that those providing nutritional advice to adolescent athletes should emphasize sustainable long-term health and avoid a focus on body composition, which can contribute to the development of disordered eating practices or low energy availability. Adolescent athletes need...

Sleep hygiene is an important aspect of recovery and includes behaviours that promote improved quantity and quality of sleep. Sleep is especially important for athletic performance and inadequate sleep can hinder an athlete’s ability to recover from training or injuries. Some sleep strategies that can be used to help improve sleep hygiene include maintaining a...

After a single concussion 15-30% of individuals do not recover within the expected time frame. This experience is termed “Post-Concussion Syndrome.” During this time, some athletes may experience challenges with cognition and communication, known as “Acquired Cognitive-Communication Disorder.” Speech-language pathologists can serve as an important part of the post-concussion care team to assist with cognitive...

One hundred days before the Tokyo Olympic Games, World Champion rower Caileigh Filmer was ready to quit her sport. But instead, she decided to inspire others by sharing first-hand accounts of her experience with depression. Discover how the people responsible for mental health for Team Canada learned from the experiences of athletes like Filmer to...

Virtual reality (VR) is increasingly used in sport psychology training due to its ability to simulate high pressure situations. In soccer, VR is used to train goalkeepers by triggering sport-induced anxiety during penalty kick simulations. Like VR exposure therapy used in military training and mental health therapy, this technology allows athletes to work through their...

Showing consideration and compassion for women athletes’ long-term health and goals, both during and after athletes’ careers, is critical in high performance sport. Rather than rely on hindsight in retirement, evidence-based guidance is needed to support women athletes as they progress through their careers so that they can prioritize their health for life. Check out...

The Canadian Disability Participation Project has created Canada’s first ever disability report card that summarizes physical activity data for youth with disabilities. Key findings included the need to prioritize youth with disabilities in policy and funding, improve monitoring, remove ableism for existing benchmarks, and address measurement gaps.

Sport can be both positive and negative for girls’ body image. Canadian researchers found that body-positive role modeling by parents and coaches is crucial for addressing body image concerns. Reconsidering uniforms that may make girls self-conscious is another way in which sport can foster a positive body image.

Sport and physical activity research can get stuck sitting in the pages of academic journals. Integrated knowledge translation is one way to make sure that doesn’t happen! Integrated knowledge translation involves meaningful collaboration between researchers and knowledge users to help bridge the gap between research and practice.

Built environments include the layout and design of communities in which people live and work. Research demonstrates that built environments that create physical activity opportunities for people of all ages and abilities, and that also support various types of transportation, are essential in supporting physical activity. A well-designed built environment may include elements such as...