Flying east increases jet lag and decreases sporting teams’ chances of winning, scientists say

AFL teams West Coast and Fremantle are at a distinct disadvantage due to having to fly east, scientists have found.

Teams who have to fly east for matches - such as West Coast and Freemantle - are at a distinct disadvantage due to jet lag. Picture: Tony McDonough

Sporting teams who have to fly east to compete could be at a distinct disadvantage to their rivals, scientists have found.

An exhaustive study by Australian researchers into the impact of travel on sporting performance reveals jet lag can have huge negative consequences.

While the Monash University Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health study analysed NBA basketballers, its findings have prompted its researchers to call on all sporting codes to factor in the impact of jet lag when scheduling games.

Senior author Dr Elise Facer-Childs said that when teams have to travel long distances over a number of time zones in a short period - such as AFL teams flying in and out of Perth - their performance can be significantly impaired.

West Coast Eagles and Port Adelaide at the Domain Stadium in Perth. Picture: Tony McDonough

Of particular concern is eastwards travel - where the destination time is later than the origin time such as the situation confronting West Coast and Fremantle - forcing athletes to shorten their day and suffer from poor sleep.

“Schedulers could mitigate these effects by compensating eastwards travel with increased recovery time to allow athletes to resynchronise to the new time zone,” Dr Facer-Childs said.

After analysing data from 11,481 NBA basketball games over 10 years the study found the biggest impact was on east coast teams returning home without a sufficient break before their next home game, which is bad news for the Boston Celtics currently battling the Golden State Warriors in the competition finals.

Golden State Warriors vs Boston Celtics in Game Five of the 2022 NBA Finals at Chase Center in San Francisco. Picture: Getty Images

Results published in the journal Frontiers in Physiology show that jet lagged teams who have had to fly east for home matches had a 6.03 per cent reduced chance of winning, faced a 1.29 differential in points and rebounding ability, and a 1.2 per cent drop off in shooting percentage.

But because of its more generous scheduling and longer rest breaks after matches the greatest impact in the AFL is more likely to hit west coast teams flying east too soon before running out for their away fixtures, rather than home matches.

“The difference between the NBA compared to the AFL is the amount of travel time between games. The shortest turnaround time in the AFL is a four to four or five day break,” Dr Facer-Childs said.

“Having more than a three or four day break can alleviate that circadian misalignment in that time.

“I act as the sleep doctor for some of the AFL teams and being able to use some of this information and put some things in place to mitigate those effects and travel with jet lag strategies for them to travel to play away.”