A new study has found that professional rugby union players experience significant disruptions to their sleep patterns due to match schedules and travel demands. The research, published in the Journal of Sports Sciences, examined the sleep architecture of elite players and revealed that both home and away fixtures impact sleep duration and quality.
The study monitored the sleep of 20 male rugby players over three nights surrounding both home and away matches. Researchers found that away games, which required travel across three time zones, led to increased difficulty in falling asleep and reduced the proportion of light sleep. On match nights, players experienced a delayed bedtime and a reduction in total sleep time, with rapid eye movement (REM) sleep also significantly affected. The night following a match, sleep duration and the time spent in light and REM sleep rebounded, particularly after away games.
Kanon Uchiyama, a researcher at the University of Western Australia, explained the motivation behind the study: “The current knowledge is that travel and matches can disrupt sleep in professional team-sport athletes in-season, and so our motivation was to try to bridge that gap between sleep and athletic performance. By measuring sleep architecture and understanding which stages of sleep are promoted or reduced with travel and matches, we aimed to provide practitioners and high-performance staff with insight into what aspects of athletic performance might be influenced during an in-season week.”
These findings highlight the challenges faced by professional athletes who frequently travel for competitions. Disruptions to sleep architecture can have implications for recovery and performance, with previous studies indicating that inadequate rest may increase the risk of injury and hinder cognitive function. Researchers noted that deep sleep, which is crucial for physical recovery, increased after matches, while REM sleep, essential for cognitive processing, was significantly reduced. Uchiyama elaborated, stating, “Post-match sleep curtailment reduces light and REM sleep while preserving deep sleep.”
One key factor contributing to disrupted sleep was the effect of travel. Players who travelled eastward across time zones experienced a delay in sleep onset and a reduction in light sleep. Hotel environments also appeared to play a role, with players taking longer to fall asleep in unfamiliar settings. These challenges suggest that teams should consider optimising travel schedules and sleep environments to mitigate the impact on athletes’ recovery. Uchiyama added, “Reductions to light sleep during away fixtures were particularly noticeable.”
The study also found notable individual variability among players. Some individuals appeared more affected by travel and match-related stressors, while others maintained relatively stable sleep patterns. This suggests that personalised sleep management strategies could be beneficial. “Due to the individual variability in the sleep results, we are now looking at whether specific collisional activity or other physical demands have any impact on sleep architecture after a match to help guide and identify players that might need some prioritisation and additional personalised sleep strategies,” Uchiyama said.
Given the importance of sleep in athletic performance, researchers recommend that rugby teams implement strategies to improve sleep hygiene, particularly after travel and matches. Delayed training start times after away fixtures, optimising hotel room conditions, and ensuring adequate sleep opportunities could help mitigate the effects of disrupted sleep.
