Circadian Rhythm Gives Edge to West Coast NFL Teams

A new study on the circadian rhythm, a good night's sleep and the energy it provides for the body suggests that professional football players on the US West Coast have an edge over their East Coast opponents when the match is held starting after 8 p.m. Eastern Time.

Roger S. Smith, a sleep specialist at Harvard University, said that in the past 40 years, even if you account for the quality of the teams, West Coast teams have "had a significant athletic performance advantage over East Coast teams when playing games starting after 8 p.m" EST.

Smith and his colleagues conducted an analysis of every NFL game played from 1970 to 2011 that started after 8 p.m. EST and involved East Coast versus West Coast teams, a total of 106 games. For controls, an additional 293 games involving the same match-ups but during daytime games were included in the study.

Even after adjusting for the Las Vegas points spread, which takes into account injuries, home field advantage and other factors, including the quality of the team, West Coast teams still showed strong advantage over East Coast teams in games beginning after 8 p.m. EST.

The researchers calculated that during night games, West Coast teams beat the spread in 66 percent of the games and did so by an average of 5.26 points. There was no statistically significant advantage reported when the same teams played during daylight hours.

The study authors report that biological rhythms can determine the specific times at which peak performance is likely to occur. Prior research has suggested that peak athletic performance occurs during the late afternoon. Therefore, a night game on for a West Coast team on after 8 p.m. on the East Coast could mean that the West Coast athletes are hitting their biological prime time for peak athletic performance well after it has passed for the East Coast team.

"This study is a reminder that the body has an intricate timing system that regulates both sleep and aspects of human performance," American Academy of Sleep Medicine President Dr. M. Safwan Badr said in a statement. "We function best when we maintain a daily routine that promotes healthy sleep, which is critical for daytime alertness, performance and public safety."

The study is published in the journal SLEEP.