Sleep, Travel, and Recovery Responses of National Footballers During and After Long-Haul International Air Travel

PURPOSE: 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 .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.