title: Sleep, Travel, and Recovery Responses of National Footballers During and After Long-Haul International Air Travel.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The current study examined the sleep, travel, and recovery responses of elite footballers during and after long-haul international air travel, with a further description of these responses over the ensuing competitive tour (including 2 matches).
  
  
  METHODS
  In an observational design, 15 elite male football players undertook 18 h of predominantly westward international air travel from the United Kingdom to South America (-4-h time-zone shift) for a 10-d tour. Objective sleep parameters, external and internal training loads, subjective player match performance, technical match data, and perceptual jet-lag and recovery measures were collected.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significant differences were evident between outbound travel and recovery night 1 (night of arrival; P < .001) for sleep duration. Sleep efficiency was also significantly reduced during outbound travel compared with recovery nights 1 (P = .001) and 2 (P = .004). Furthermore, both match nights (5 and 10), showed significantly less sleep than nonmatch nights 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 (all P < .001). No significant differences were evident between baseline and any time point for all perceptual measures of jet-lag and recovery (P > .05), although large effects were evident for jet-lag on d 2 (2 d after arrival).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Sleep duration is truncated during long-haul international travel with a 4-h time-zone delay and after night matches in elite footballers. However, this lost sleep appeared to have a limited effect on perceptual recovery, which may be explained by a westbound flight and a relatively small change in time zones, in addition to the significant increase in sleep duration on the night of arrival after the long-haul flight.
authors.affiliation: Inst of Sport and Preventive Medicine, Saarland University, Saarland, Germany.
authors.forename: Hugh H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Fullagar
authors.forename: Rob
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Duffield
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Skorski
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bloomfield
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kölling
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Meyer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D064870:Air Travel; D054874:Athletic Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D003163:Competitive Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D020179:Jet Lag Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D010465:Perception; D010806:Physical Education and Training; D005082:Physical Exertion; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D012916:Soccer / Q000502:physiology*