0228 The Impact of Westward Travel Across 9 Time Zones on Sleep Behaviors of Female Collegiate Athletes

Abstract Introduction Jet lag can significantly impact an athlete’s health and performance. However, the effect of ultra long-haul travel (> 12h flying time) westward across nine time zones on the sleep of female collegiate athletes is limited. We therefore studied the sleep behavior of NCAA Division I female volleyball players on an exhibition tour to China. Methods For this observational study, eleven females were recruited from a NCAA Division I Volleyball team. During the Tour, sleep behavior was monitored using wrist actigraphy (Actiwatch Spectrum, Phillips) before (5 days) outbound travel (PRE-FLIGHT), during air travel to (1) & from (2) China (FLIGHT-DAY 1 & 2) and during the athletes’ tour while in China (TOUR-DAY 1–8). Athletes were instructed to wear the actigraphs at all times, except during competition. Standard parameters were collected from the actigraph including sleep durations and sleep efficiency and expressed as mean ± sd. Results Sleep duration and sleep efficiency were similar for PRE-FLIGHT days (~8.3 hrs ± 1.5, 90.6 ± 3.2%). Sleep duration and efficiency were significantly lower on FLIGHT-DAY 1 & 2 compared to TOUR-DAY and PRE-FLIGHT, but were not significantly different from each other (~5.2 ± 2.4h, 80.5 ± 8.8%). Sleep duration during TOUR-DAY 1–7 followed a quadratic relationship, peaking on TOUR-DAY 1 and reaching a nadir on TOUR-DAY 5, before increasing again through TOUR-DAY 7 (p<0.05). Sleep duration on TOUR-DAY 8 (~5.9 ± 0.9 h) was significantly lower than PRE-FLIGHT and TOUR-DAY 1,2,6 & 7. Conclusion During travel female collegiate volleyball players showed sleep disturbance. Implementation of sleep interventions for jet lag are warranted for athletes traveling across multiple time zones. Support PAC-12 Student-Athlete Health and Wellbeing Initiative, Grant #1554240