Home vs away: differences in sleep and athletic performance in NCAA division I women's soccer players

Travel is an essential component of collegiate athletics. The objective of this study was to examine how in-season travel affects sleep health and in-game performance in NCAA Division I women’s soccer players. We hypothesized that travel trips would lead to reduced sleep health and, in turn, poorer in-game performance. Sleep and in-game physical performance data were collected from nine NCAA Division I women’s soccer players across four home stands and four away trips. Sleep was assessed using Fitbit Charge 6 devices, which provided objective measures of sleep timing, sleep efficiency, and sleep duration. Sleep data was collected for seven consecutive nights (Monday to Sunday) during each home and away period. In-game performance for Thursday and Sunday games was measured using the WIMU athlete-tracking system, which includes a global positioning system (GPS) unit, accelerometer, gyroscope, and heart rate (HR) monitor. During travel weeks, players showed earlier mid-week waketimes and a later Sunday game-night bedtime. Sleep following Sunday home games was slightly longer than on Sundays when traveling. Overall, total sleep duration differed minimally between home and away weeks. Regardless of location, Thursday game nights were associated with notably later bedtimes. In-game performance measures indicated that Thursday home games produced the highest performance outputs for many measures. In contrast, the largest declines occurred during Thursday away games, aligning with the earlier mid-week waketime before travel. Performance during Sunday games was moderate and generally similar across locations. These findings suggest that in-season travel is associated with shifts in sleep timing that may contribute to reduced physical performance during away games, particularly early in the week. Ongoing statistical analyses will further define the associations between travel, sleep patterns, and in-game performance. This abstract was presented at the American Physiology Summit 2026 and is only available in HTML format. There is no downloadable file or PDF version. The Physiology editorial board was not involved in the peer review process.