Around the world in 16 days: the effect of long-distance transmeridian travel on the sleep habits and behaviours of a professional Super Rugby team

Smithies, Tim D.; Eastwood, Peter R.; Walsh, Jennifer H.; Murray, Kevin; Markwick, Will; Dunican, Ian C.

doi:10.1080/02640414.2021.1947617

Cited by 8 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…The authors posited that physical factors associated with travel, such as exposure to mild hypoxia as well as cramped conditions, long layovers, and restricted movement that increase fatigue, were likely driving these changes in sleep–wake behaviors and sleep health given the minimal circadian disruption associated with this specific long-haul travel. Smithies and colleagues (2021) showed similar effects of long-distance transmeridian travel (LDTT) on sleep duration in a sample of professional Super Rugby athletes, with LDTT defined as travel across more than 3 time zones [ 75 ]. This investigation followed a Super Rugby team through a 5-game stretch that required travel from Perth, Australia, to Durban, South Africa, and from Durban, South African, to Buenos Aires, Argentina, before returning to Perth, Australia, which summated into ~ 36,600 km traveled across 29 days and four different LDTT events.…”

Section: Unique Challenges For Professional Athletes That Can Negativ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, sleep efficiency was significantly reduced (~ 3%) on competition nights, relative to other conditions. Smithies and colleagues (2021) also showed significantly shorter sleep duration on night’s after competition, with their sample of professional Super Rugby athletes displaying a reduction of about 70 min of sleep duration following competition [ 75 ]. Some of the reduction in sleep duration for this sample was due to earlier risetimes necessary to meet early travel departure following competition.…”

Section: Unique Challenges For Professional Athletes That Can Negativ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We were only able to identify three studies that directly analyzed the effects of travel on sleep health in professional athletes [74][75][76]. Lastella and colleagues (2019) showed that long-haul air travel, despite minimal change across time zones, significantly disrupted the sleep-wake behaviors and degraded sleep health of professional soccer players [74].…”

Section: Travel Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We identified eight pieces of literature that pertain to the influence of competition factors on sleep health in professional athletes [55,60,62,[74][75][76][77][78][79]. In a sample of professional athletes across rugby, netball, and soccer, Cameron and colleagues (2021) evidenced the perception of significant, negative effects of competition on sleep [60].…”

Section: Competition Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sleep and Performance in Professional Athletes

Cook

Charest

2023

Curr Sleep Medicine Rep

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Purpose of Review Sleep is an essential human behavior that plays a key role in proper biopsychosocial development as well as short- and long-term biological, physical, psychological, and cognitive health. Sleep plays a key role in athletic performance, influencing an athlete’s ability to train, recover, and perform, as well as their overall wellness. Over the recent decade, the awareness of sleep’s import has penetrated just about every professional sport domain. The purpose of the review was to identify and synthesize the literature published within the past 5 years (2018–2022) that relates to sleep and performance in professional athletes. Literature related to nonprofessional, high-level athletes (e.g., collegiate; Olympic) was omitted as well as those associated with non-traditional professional sports (e.g., eSports). Recent Findings Results from 38 articles were incorporated into this review, which covered (1) the sleep’s role in the training, physical injury prevention and recovery, competitive performance, and mental health of professional athletes, (2) common sleep problems and disorders in professional athletes, and (3) the impact of unique challenges from training, travel, competition, and other factors on sleep health. Additionally, we provide an orientation to utilized strategies and interventions to assist with sleep health in professional athletes, as well as conclude with a commentary on critical steps forward. Summary Sleep plays a critically important role in the training, recovery, performance, and overall wellness of professional athletes. Professional athletes are vulnerable to a variety of sleep-related problems and disorders, due to unique factors related to training, travel, and competition, among other factors. Improved, standardized research methodology and partnerships between professional athletes, coaches, teams, and organizations and researchers are necessary to advance the knowledge of sleep and performance in professional athletes, including identifying sport-specific differences and variation across individual characteristics, as well as developing individualizable, dynamic, and appropriate interventions for improving sleep health among professional athletes.

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Section: Unique Challenges For Professional Athletes That Can Negativ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Unique Challenges For Professional Athletes That Can Negativ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Travel Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Competition Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sleep and Performance in Professional Athletes

Cook

Charest

2023

Curr Sleep Medicine Rep

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“…Numerous sleep challenges have been reported by team-sport athletes, which include caffeine consumption, 12 increased training volume, 13 scheduling of training and competition, 14 obstructive sleep apnea, movement while asleep, 15 muscle soreness, 16 and domestic or international travel. 17 One method that may help to improve sleep quality and quantity among athletes is the use of sleep hygiene education, which has been previously described as adopting behavioral changes that promote and facilitate sleep and avoiding behaviors that have been suggested to interfere with sleep. 18 Sleep hygiene education provides athletes with tools and strategies to maximize the quality and quantity of sleep by focusing on lifestyle and environmental factors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing Perceived Sleep Quality, Practices, and Behaviors of Male and Female Elite Rugby Union Athletes with the Use of Sleep Questionnaires

Teece,

Beaven,

Argus

et al. 2023

Sleep Sci

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Objective To evaluate the differences in subjective sleep quality, quantity, and behaviors among male and female elite rugby union athletes through two common sleep questionnaires. Materials and Methods A sample of 38 male and 27 female elite rugby union athletes filled out the Athlete Sleep Behavior Questionnaire (ASBQ) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Global scores and individual items for each questionnaire were compared to assess differences between sexes. Results Male athletes reported significantly longer sleep duration (7 h 50 m ± 50 m versus 7h 12 m ± 58 m respectively; p ≤ 0.01; d = 0.70) and higher habitual sleep efficiency (88% versus 83% respectively; p < 0.05; d = 0.54) when compared with female athletes. Individual items of the ASBQ revealed significant differences between male and female athletes for five questions. Male athletes displayed higher instances of taking stimulants before training or competition and consuming alcohol within 4 hours of going to bed. Conversely, female athletes expressed greater thought or worry while in bed and a higher instance of training late at night. Discussion Male athletes displayed better self-reported sleep quality and quantity than female athletes; however, the present study highlighted that male and female elite rugby union athletes face specific challenges that differ. It appears that the differences observed between male and female elite rugby union athletes may be due to differing levels of professionalism or differences in training or competition schedules.

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