Effect of Travel on Sleep Patterns and Athletic Performance in Female Professional Tennis Players: A Retrospective...

Sleep is vital for an athlete's recovery, physical and mental health, and athletic performance. The impact on circadian rhythm from long-distance travel across multiple time zones has not been studied using wearable technology in female professional tennis players.

Travel between time zones in female professional tennis players leads to circadian desynchronization, causing disruption in sleep patterns, changes in physiologic parameters, and decreased athletic performance.

Retrospective cohort study.

Level 3.

A total of 52 female professional tennis players consented to wear, and share the data of, WHOOP 3.0 while traveling and competing on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour. Linear mixed models examined the relationship between (1) travel and sleep/recovery and (2) sleep/recovery and match performance.

Sleep duration without travel averaged 437 minutes (436.8 ± 2.8). On the first night after travel, for every hour time zone difference (TZD) traveled regardless of direction, players slept 11 minutes less (-11.3 ± 0.96; P < 0.05). Eastward travel further reduced sleep (-24.5 ± 4.2; P < 0.05), while westward travel increased sleep duration (+30.0 ± 4.2; P < 0.05). These effects were reduced on the subsequent 2 nights.

Sleep duration reduction was most prominent on the first night after travel, particularly with eastward travel, but improved on subsequent nights. The number of time zones crossed predictably increases the vulnerability for insufficient sleep duration, whereby a 2-hour TZD easterly, and 4-hour TZD westerly, reduces sleep duration <7 hours on the first night. No significant correlation was found between sleep disruption and competition performance in our female professional tennis population.

The findings suggest that professional tennis players should, and generally do, arrive at competition locations with enough time to resynchronize their circadian rhythm to the destination time zone; particularly if traveling eastward.