Circadian rhythm in sportspersons and athletic performance: A mini review

ABSTRACT

Circadian rhythms in the physiological and behavioral processes of humans play a crucial role in the quality of living and also in the magnitude of success and failure in various endeavors including competitive sports. The rhythmic activities of the body and performance in sportspersons do have a massive impact on their every cutthroat competition. It is essential to schedule sports activities and training of players according to their circadian typology and time of peak performance for improved performance and achievement. In this review, the focus is on circadian rhythms and diurnal variations in peak athletic performance in sportspersons. Accuracy and temporal variability in peak performance in an individual could be attributed to various factors, namely chronotype, time of the day, body temperature, jetlag, hormones, and prior light exposure. Circadian rhythm of mood, alertness, T-core, and ultimately athletic performance is not only affected by sleep but also by circadian variations in hormones, such as cortisol, testosterone, and melatonin. There are, however, a few reports that are not consistent with the conclusions drawn in this review. Nevertheless, circadian rhythm and performance among sportspersons and athletes are important areas of research. This review might be useful to the managers and policymakers associated with competitive sports and athletic events.

KEYWORDS:

• Athletes
• chronotype
• circadian rhythm
• jetlag
• performance
• sleep
• sportspersons
• time of day

Acknowledgement

We are very grateful to Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur for providing fellowship to one of us (SP), and the University Grants Commission, New Delhi, for supporting our research in the chronobiology and animal behavior laboratory at Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur, India, with generous grants under the provisions of SAP DRS-III scheme in the thrust area, “Chronobiology” sanctioned to our School of Studies in Life Science. We are indebted to two unknown reviewers for their valuable suggestions that improved this review considerably.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).