Department of Psychology, Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York, USA.
Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Westchester Medical Center, Valhalla, New York, USA.
Chronobiol Int. 2022 Jul;39(7):1001-1005. doi: 10.1080/07420528.2022.2057321. Epub 2022 Mar 29.
Jet lag can impair a variety of physical and mental functions. The impact of jet lag on athletic performance has been assumed but difficult to prove methodologically. The challenges have involved eliminating the impact of the quality of the opponent and the difficulties determining when an athlete actually traveled across time zones. Analyzing free throw (FT) shooting in the National Basketball Association allowed these challenges to be overcome. 48,309 games across 19 consecutive seasons were examined of which 675 games involved a team that met our definition of jet lag. In these games, players on the jet lagged teams made 12,154 of 16,286 (74.6%) FTs that were attempted while in the remaining games of that season, the same players on these teams made 993,962 of 1,318,188 (75.4%) FTs attempted, (1, N = 1,334,474) = 5.21, = .02. There was no significant impact of jet lag on the players who took the most number of FTs in these jet lagged games. However, the remaining players on the team made 7,394 of 10,016 (73.8%) FTs attempted in jet lagged games while the same players made 794,009 of 1,056,587 (75.1%) FTs in other games that season, (1, N = 1,066,603) = 9.35, = .002. When subcategorized further, the impact on the players on jet lagged teams was only seen when they traveled from east to west but not when travel was from west to east. Our analysis reveals that jet lag does negatively influence athletic performance, primarily through circadian rhythm disruption. However, elite athletes appear to be able to overcome this impact if they are given enough opportunities to do so.
时差会损害各种身体和精神功能。时差对运动表现的影响已被假设，但在方法学上难以证明。这些挑战涉及消除对手质量的影响以及难以确定运动员何时实际穿越时区。分析美国国家篮球协会（National Basketball Association）的自由投篮（FT）可以克服这些挑战。在 19 个连续赛季中，分析了 48,309 场比赛，其中 675 场比赛涉及到符合我们时差定义的球队。在这些比赛中，时差队的球员尝试了 16,286 次中的 12,154 次（74.6%），而在那个赛季的其余比赛中，同一支球队的球员尝试了 1,318,188 次中的 993,962 次（75.4%）， （1，N=1,334,474）=5.21， =.02。时差对在这些时差比赛中尝试最多 FT 的球员没有显著影响。然而，在时差比赛中，球队的其他球员尝试了 10,016 次中的 7,394 次（73.8%），而在那个赛季的其他比赛中，同一球员尝试了 1,056,587 次中的 794,009 次（75.1%）， （1，N=1,066,603）=9.35， =.002。进一步细分后，只有当球队从东向西旅行时，对时差队球员的影响才会显现，而当从西向东旅行时则不会。我们的分析表明，时差确实会对运动表现产生负面影响，主要是通过打乱生物钟。然而，如果给予精英运动员足够的机会，他们似乎能够克服这种影响。
