ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines current views on the nature and origin of team travel, the lifestyle of elite athletes, travel fatigue, and coping with jet lag problems, and offers advice on how to minimise their adverse effects. Travel fatigue is associated with any long journeys, irrespective of mode of transport or number of time zones crossed. Its symptoms include disorientation, general weariness, and increased incidence of headaches. The purpose of body clock is to prepare the body for waking and mental activity in the light and for sleeping and nocturnal inactivity when it is naturally dark. Sleeping pills have been used by some travelling athletes to induce sleep during flights. Drugs such as benzodiazepines are effective in inducing sleep, but they do not guarantee a prolonged period asleep. The case study integrates the scientific theory behind jet lag strategies with applied rugby practice and application, and shows how the gold standard recommendations sometimes have to be modified for practical reasons.
