Marquet et al. 2016, Sleep-low strategy

Marquet, Brisswalter, Louis, Tiollier, Burke, Hawley and Hausswirth, “Enhanced Endurance Performance by Periodization of Carbohydrate Intake: ‘Sleep Low’ Strategy”, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 48(4):663–672, 2016.

A controlled trial in trained triathletes testing the sleep-low protocol: a high-intensity evening session, carbohydrate restriction overnight, then a fasted aerobic session the next morning. Over three weeks the sleep-low group improved supramaximal cycling capacity (150% of peak aerobic power), submaximal cycling efficiency (delta efficiency +11%) and 10-km running time, and lost fat mass, compared with a matched group that kept carbohydrate high throughout. One of the few train-low studies to show a clear performance benefit, though in a small sample and not consistently replicated.