Professional baseball players can gain a competitive edge by sleep loading, according to a new study covered in MedPage Today. Their schedules traveling several days per month during the season and late night Tweeting habits, on the other hand, do not.
The study compared 17 professional baseball players' sleep schedules during spring training to assess whether sleep loading — adding an extra 0.6 hours of nightly sleep — made an impact on performance. The study authors found:
1. The athletes in the sleep loading group had a 13 percent faster response time for cognitive processing.
2. Sleep-loading players had a 122 millisecond faster response time.
3. The Profile of Mood States fatigue measurements decreased 39.7 percent in the sleep loading regroup. This group also reported less daytime sleepiness and tension.
4. Previous research also linked fatigue to lower batting averages among Major League players, and jet lag could lead to poor performance. Athletes traveling eastward felt the impact more than those traveling westward.
5. Another study found basketball players who reported late night Tweets — activity between 11 pm and 7 am on game days — were associated with fewer points scored and lower shooting percentages.