Media Release
July 29 2008
Beating the odds to Olympic gold
Aussie
athletes look set to beat the odds in their quest for gold at the
Beijing Olympics by adapting to eight different time zones in just three
days after flying from Europe to Beijing to compete in test events for
the Olympic Games.
Normally groups of Australian athletes attend pre-competition training
in Europe or Australia before heading to the Olympic city in the two
weeks leading up to their events, giving athletes time to adapt to the
Olympic environment and time zones before they compete. But Beijing
presents even greater challenges for the athletes than time zones,
according to researchers from UniSA’s
Centre for Sleep Research.
Sleep Research Fellow,
Dr Charli Sargent says the environment and air pollution in Beijing
are of major concern to athletes and their coaches, not only for
competing but for pre-competition training.
“At greatest risk are the cyclists, who need to train over long
distances on roads in an environment with high pollution, low visibility
and humidity, while dealing with safety issues caused by traffic
congestion, the risk of getting lost, and probably food choices,” Dr
Sargent said.
“Both the coaches and athletes believe that it would be disadvantageous
to train in that environment leading up to their events, so flying to
Beijing, perhaps three days before competing, is their preferred option.
“Athletes leaving from Australia have about a 10-hour flight north to
Beijing, while athletes training in state-of-the-art sports science
facilities in France and Belgium have to travel across eight time zones
to get to Beijing and fly in the worst direction for adapting to their
destination. Generally people allow a day per time zone to adapt,” Dr
Sargent said.
Working with the Australian
Institute of Sport, Senior Research Fellow at CSR,
Dr Greg Roach and fellow researchers conducted test events to
measure the effects of different time zones and long haul flights on
sleep in cyclists, triathletes and kayakers, who were training for the
Olympics. The athletes attended training camps in Australia and Europe,
then flew to Beijing with three days to spare, competed in test events
and returned to Australia.
Leading AIS recovery expert,
Dr Shona Halson developed strategies to help the athletes recover
quickly from their flights and make sure that they were in optimum
condition to perform, while UniSA researchers looked at the impact of
training and competition on sleep, and the role of sleep in optimising
their performance.
“We monitored their sleep while at the training camps, during their
flights and for two nights after they reached Beijing to see how they
adapted to the time zones,” Dr Sargent said.
“The athletes wore wrist watch activity monitors that recorded their
training and gave an indication of their sleep patterns. In addition,
because of the movement and disturbance on the plane, athletes were
asked to fill in a sleep diary to record when they tried to sleep or get
a nap,” she said.
All had only limited sleep during flights and there was no difference in
the amount or quality of sleep between athletes travelling from Europe
or Australia.
Strategies were put in place to minimise jetlag once the athletes got to
Beijing. To help reset their body clocks, athletes were exposed to the
new environment as quickly as possible by doing light training outside
and eating at correct times.
“For the 20 athletes who flew from Europe to Beijing, it was a good
result knowing that they could train in Europe, then fly to Beijing and
adapt to the time zones after just a couple of days,” Dr Sargent said.
“They followed our recommendations and I think just the fact that they
could train in their chosen facilities had a big impact on how they were
feeling and how they slept once in Beijing. They recorded an average of
seven hours of good quality sleep,” she said.
“From a psychological point of view, I think that being happy and able
to train in an environment that the athletes feel is best for their
preparation played a big role because we really didn’t expect them to
sleep well or perform so well in Beijing after crossing so many time
zones.”
While UniSA focused on sleep data,
David Martin from AIS confirmed that the long flights and time zones
had no effect on the athletes’ performance.
Contacts for interview
- Dr Charli Sargent office (08) 8302 2545 email charli.sargent@unisa.edu.au
Media contact
- Geraldine Hinter office (08) 8302 0963 mobile 0417 861832 email geraldine.hinter@unisa.edu.au