Craig Thomas
Sport and Exercise Sciences

Faculty: Faculty of Science
School: Sport and Exercise Sciences
Email address: C.J.Thomas@2016.ljmu.ac.uk
Biography
Craig graduated with first class honours in Sport and Exercise Science from Nottingham Trent University. During this time he also completed internships in performance analysis at Burton Albion FC and Derby County FC. These experiences led to him filling a full-time position at Stoke City FC as assistant first team performance analyst while successfully completing a part-time MRes in Sport Science at Nottingham Trent University. In 2016, Craig was accepted onto the LJMU PhD scholarship scheme for his proposed research in sleep. Outside of his PhD, Craig is a member of the Dockside running club and enjoys half marathon running.
PhD project title
Effect of exercise on sleep quality in an athletic population
PhD supervisors
Dr. Julien Louis, Prof. Helen Jones and Dr. Craig Whitworth-Turner
Project description
Craig’s PhD project is investigating the relationship between exercise and sleep quality in well trained populations, including sub-elite and elite athletes. He is studying the interaction between exercise intensity, exercise frequency and sleep quality to test the hypothesis that sleep has an important role in recovery from strenuous training and competition. Craig uses various methodologies to measure sleep, such as: questionnaires, wristwatch actigraphy and the gold standard technique, laboratory based polysomnography. Craig also works with doctors from the field of sleep medicine at Aintree hospital to further his understanding of sleep physiology and to ensure quality control during polysomnography monitoring.
Degrees
2015, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, United Kingdom, MRes Sport Science
2013, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, United Kingdom, BSc (H) Sport and Exercise Science
Journal article
Townsend, R, Elliott-Sale, KJ, Pinto, AJ, Thomas CJ, Scott, JP, Currell, K, Fraser, WD, Sale, C. 2016. Parathyroid hormone secretion is controlled by both ionised calcium and phosphate during exercise and recovery in men The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 101 :3231-3239
Thesis/Dissertation
Thomas C. Effect of Exercise Training on Sleep: Implications for the Athlete Population Louis J, Jones H, Whitworth-Turner C. Public Url
Conference presentation:
Sleep patterns before and after a race meeting: A descriptive case study of a professional motocross rider, 2017 LJMU graduate school conference, John Lennon art and design building, Poster presentation. 2017