Eastward jet lag associated with impaired performance for NBA home teams
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Sleep and circadian disruption associated with eastward travel has significant adverse effects on National Basketball Association player performances among home teams, according to published results.
To determine the impact of travel-related jet lag on NBA player performances, researchers analyzed 11,481 regular season NBA games from 2011 to the 2021. The researchers used multi-level mixed models to account for jet lag direction (eastward vs. westward), predicted circadian resynchronization rate, teams, opponents, game times, as well as home and away teams.
Researchers found jet lag had the most significant impact on home teams traveling eastward, in which lag was associated with a 6.03% decrease in wins, a decrease of 1.29 in point differential, a decrease of 1.29 in rebound differential, and a 1.2% decrease in effective field goal percentage differential. No effects on player performance were seen among away teams or those traveling westward, the researchers noted.
According to the study, home team point differential decreased further as the magnitude of eastward jet lag increased. Among home teams traveling eastward, an increase of 1 hour of jet lag was associated with a decrease of 0.72 points, while an increase of 2 hours of jet lag was associated with a decrease of 4.53 points.
“While the general effects of travel have been studied extensively, the specific effects of east-west travel across time zones on team performance remains a matter of debate,” the researchers wrote in the study.
“Sports organizations could consider chronobiology-informed scheduling and interventions to maximize recovery and performance of their athletes,” they concluded.
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