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Rob Duffield, PhD

TEAM-SPORT PERFORMANCE FOLLOWING EAST AND WEST LONG-HAUL AIR TRAVEL.

….TRAVEL IS A NECESSITY....

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JET LAG vs TRAVEL FATIGUE

Samuels et al. (2012) Clin J Sport Med

Socceroo's – Brazil 2014

Increased Jet Lag (4 days to recover)

BUT no performance measures

McCall et al. (unpublished)

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TRAVEL & PERFORMANCE

Performance after westward

travel across 5 time zones (Reilly et al. IJSM 2001)

Currently either non-specific tests or simulated flights…

AIM

To investigate the effects of eastward and westward long-haul air travel on physical performance markers

relevant to team-sports.

Participants n= 19 trained sub-elite team-sport players

Age: 21.9 ± 3.6 y Height: 178.2 ± 6.5 cm Mass: 77.12 ± 7.68 kg YYIR1: 18.0 ± 1.4 level

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SYDNEY – DOHA 8 time zones, 2 stops,

16h flight/s, 21 h travel Economy class

METHODS

7 d

ay w

ash

ou

t

4 d

ay w

ash

ou

t 21 h

WEST

8 time-zones

21 h

EAST

8 time-zones

Baseline

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MEASURES

1. CMJ 4. YYIR1

All testing conducted: • On standardised court surfaces. • Following a standardised warm up. • Avoiding heat exposure during testing.

2. 20 m sprint 3. Agility

ANALYSES

• A linear mixed-model:

interaction of time and trial as fixed effects to determine differences in the effect of trial over time.

• Where a significant effect was observed (P<0.05), a Tukey HSD post hoc test to determine differences between means.

• Data reported as mean ± SD change from baseline.

• Shaded area in figures represents TE.

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RESULTS: CMJ

17:00

RESULTS: SPEED

17:00

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RESULTS: AGILITY

17:00

RESULTS: YYIRT

17:00

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KEY OUTCOMES

• Post-travel performance suppression evident 72 h post-travel

• CMJ power and force were similarly affected for EAST & WEST travel.

• Sprint and agility performance were worse following WEST travel.

• YYIR1 performance was worse following EAST travel with sRPE.

WHY PERFORMANCE REDUCTION?

Disruption of

Circadian Rhythms

(Jet-Lag)

Demands of Travel

(Travel Fatigue)

Sleep Disruption

Beaumont et al. 2004

Takahashi et al. 2002

↑ fatigue + ↓ mood

Waterhouse et al. 2002

Skein et al. 2011

↓ Physical performance

Chapman et al. 2012

Reilly et al. 2001

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KEY OUTCOMES

• Post-travel performance suppression evident 72 h post-travel

• CMJ power and force were similarly affected for EAST & WEST travel.

• Sprint and agility performance were worse following WEST travel.

• YYIR1 performance was worse following EAST travel with sRPE.

WHY DIRECTION EFFECTS?

SPEED & AGILITY WEST: Testing at 17:00 Qatar time is 24:00 Australian time

EAST: Testing at 17:00 Australian time is 09:00 Qatar time

= Circadian Rhythm West more so than East

INTERMITTENT-SPRINT EXERCISE EAST: Motivational issues with return home

Accumulated fatigue of study Shorter duration between arrival and testing

= East more so than West

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CONCLUSIONS Long-haul air travel can result in:

• lower-body power and intermittent-sprint performance for 3 days.

• Directional differences for performance?

Merit in tailoring training times and recovery interventions based on:

travel direction and arrival time.

• Recognising the limitations of:

Only descriptive data as of the moment

Diurnal differences across the day to be detailed

Non-elite athletic population

Fatigue accumulation & motivational issues

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

With special acknowledgment of:

Dr Peter Fowler

Dr Wade Knez

Dr Shona Halson

Dr Jo Vaile

Dr Amy Mendham

Stephen Crowcroft