18 September 2026
By Roger Kennedy
roger@TheCork.ie

How Long-Distance Travel Affects Athletes’ Physical Condition

For professionals, trips are part of the job. A team can spend ten or twelve hours on a plane and be expected to perform at its highest level. But what about jet lag? Well, unfortunately, crossing time zones can disturb sleep, alter the body’s internal clock, increase fatigue, and temporarily affect physical performance.

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So the next time there are signs that athletes are struggling with the aftermath of flying across an ocean, we can take it into account. 

The Physical Cost of a Long Journey

Distance means extended periods of discomfort, even for business-class ticket holders.

After arrival, common complaints can include:

• Tiredness and reduced alertness
• Poor or shortened sleep
• Headaches and difficulty concentrating
• Muscle stiffness after prolonged sitting

An awful combination when you need coordination between the brain and muscles. Besides, even a temporary reduction in rest can make strenuous exercise feel harder.

To understand how long players have to spend getting to training camps, here are some of the longest journeys teams had to undertake for the 2026 FIFA WC:

The chart compels you to never complain about average flights, huh?

The latest systematic narrative review examined 89 studies of long-haul travel and athletes. Across the research, reported effects included sleep disruption, fatigue, changes in mood, cognitive problems, and reductions in physical performance. The authors also found changes in measures such as body temperature, blood pressure, hormones, heart-rate variability, and some immune markers.

Jet Lag Impact

This is the most commonly faced issue when you cross thousands of Kms from your home.

Our bodies have an innate biological rhythm called “circadian”. It drives many functions such as falling asleep and staying alert, temperature, hormone secretion, etc. This process typically lines up with the natural local day/night cycle.

However, when we rapidly get to another location, there’s a discrepancy between what our clocks tell us and what our bodies think they’re experiencing (for example, you might arrive at noon on a Saturday, but your body is still working by its own schedule dictated by the country you came from)

That mismatch can affect both rest and exercise.

Research involving sportsmen has found that eastward travel can be particularly difficult because the body generally adjusts more slowly when the day has effectively become shorter. A study of trained athletes overcoming eight time zones between Australia and Qatar found greater disruption, including worse sleep, exhaustion, and reduced team-sport performance.

The effects were especially apparent during several days after arrival.

Energy Is the First to Go

Sleeping is one of the main parts of athletic recovery. While dreaming, the body carries out processes involved in tissue repair, hormone regulation, memory, and nervous-system recovery.

Getting from one destination to another can interfere with both the amount and timing of rest.

A person might fall asleep at the wrong biological time, wake earlier than intended, or experience fragmented sleep. Even when the total number of hours appears adequate, going to bed at an hour that conflicts with the body’s circadian rhythm can leave a person feeling poorly rested.

A study of German junior rowers traveling five time zones westward for the 2015 World Rowing Junior Championships found that jet-lag symptoms were strongest after arrival and remained detectable for several days. The athletes nevertheless performed successfully at the competition.

That distinction matters. Research describes increased risk or reduced stamina under certain conditions, not a guaranteed decline in results.

Explosion Drop

Some studies have examined whether it affects specific physical abilities.

Researchers studying elite Australian skeleton sportsmen going from Australia to Canada found reductions in several measures of lower-body power following continuous journeys. Jump performance was affected during the days after the flight, although some measures improved again after about 42 hours.

Another study involved ten trained men traveling 21 hours across eight time zones. After eastward travel, researchers recorded slower 20-meter sprint times and worse results on a repeated running test. The strongest effects occurred during the first three days.

These findings are particularly relevant to sports where acceleration, jumping, and repeated high-intensity efforts determine the outcome.

Physical effects reported after this can include:

• Reduced sprint or jumping performance
• Greater perceived fatigue during exercise
• Lower alertness and slower reactions
• Changes in coordination or physical output

The effects are generally temporary, but the timing can be awkward. A tournament match may take place precisely when the athlete is still adapting.

Hydration, Digestion, and Routine

Travel can also disrupt ordinary eating and drinking patterns.

Athletes often follow carefully planned nutritional routines during training. Prolonged journeys can make those regimens harder to maintain. Meal timing changes, appetite may be reduced, and unfamiliar food can cause digestive problems.

A study of endurance among those flying long-haul from Australia to Hawaii found changes in sleep, fatigue, recovery, and measures related to mucosal immunity.

A 2026 case report involving a world-class Paralympic shot putter also recorded gastrointestinal disturbances following six-time-zone eastward travel, along with temporary reductions in handgrip strength and increased fatigue. The findings came from a single athlete, so they cannot be generalized to everyone, but they illustrate how several systems can be affected at once.

Long journeys can mess with:

• Normal meal times
• Fluid intake
• Training schedules
• Rest regimen
• Recovery periods

For sportsmen competing at a high level, maintaining familiar routines can be difficult when most of a day is spent moving between airports, aircraft, hotels, and venues.

The Immune System May Also Be Affected

Athletes already place considerable demands on their bodies through intensive training. Long-distance travel can add another stressor.

Researchers have investigated whether travel-related sleep disruption and fatigue influence immune function. Studies have measured markers such as salivary immunoglobulin A, which plays a role in the body’s defenses at mucosal surfaces.

Evidence remains less consistent here than for resting and jet lag. The 2026 review identified immune changes in some studies, but the research was not uniform.

This is a good example of why journeys should not be treated as a single medical problem. Different people can respond differently, and the effects depend heavily on the journey and the conditions surrounding it.

Technology and Recovery

Professional teams increasingly use tech to monitor how players respond to demanding schedules.

Wearable devices can record sleep duration, heart rate, movement, and other indicators. Computer systems can then compare these measurements across training sessions and travel periods.

Technology cannot remove jet lag, but it can help staff recognize when an athlete may need additional recovery time. Coaches can also use touring information when deciding how hard a team should train immediately after arrival.

Artificial intelligence may eventually make these systems more sophisticated by identifying patterns across large amounts of performance and recovery data. For now, however, human interpretation remains important because athletes respond differently to the same journey.

Performance Issue

Modern sport involves more international competition than ever. Teams can cross continents for tournaments, leagues, exhibition matches, and championships. The schedule can become almost as demanding as the competition itself.

The 2026 review of available studies concluded that the direction, time zones crossed, and individual susceptibility all influence the response to long-hauls.

Such things therefore deserve attention alongside training and recovery.

The airplane does more than move a sportsman from one stadium to another. It can temporarily change the conditions under which that athlete’s body operates. Sleep may be disturbed, fatigue may increase, and certain aspects of physical performance can decline for several days.

For elite competitors, where small differences can decide an event, those effects are worth taking seriously.