What kind of sleep did England have when 11 o'clock on the Sun at St. Petersburg has not yet dive?

In England's 6-1 victory over Panama, there are certainly merits of curtains.

The World Cup is never a level playing field for all teams, based on science. In 2014, the matches held in the tropical fire pan in Brazil were a major disadvantage for cold countries.

The harsh conditions affected the performance of European teams, and for the first time in history, FIFA had to allow the match to be stopped in the middle of the game just for players to drink.

This year in Russia, temperature is no longer a factor of inequality, but the 2018 World Cup has its own problems. The tournament is being held in the world's largest country, stretching over 11 time zones and accounting for 1/10 of the land area on Earth.

This brings disadvantages to some teams, in different ways.

The most intense tournament schedule for the 2018 World Cup of the Egyptian team.

Egypt lost all three matches in the World Cup group stage, even they did not play Saudi Arabia in the final honor match. Part of the reason for this disappointing performance is probably Mohamed Salah and his teammates who have the worst match schedule in the 2018 World Cup.

Egypt's team put its headquarters in Grozny, Russia's southernmost city, but will have to move back and forth between the two stadiums in the North and the East to compete. In just 9 days, the players spent 14 hours to move over 9,000km. Jet-lag will definitely affect their sleep and performance.

Meanwhile, the Costa Rica, England, Croatia, South Korea and Saudi Arabia teams also have problems with sleep, but in a different way. They are building a joint and playing in St. Petersburg and surrounding areas.

The largest northern latitude city ever hosted World Cup matches since 1958 to date, Summer Sun in St. Louis Petersburg does not dive until 11:30 at night and will soon grow from 3 am . Lack of sleep can slow reflexes, increase the likelihood of injury and affect the ball accuracy and sprint speed of the players.

However, the England team still has impressive performance. They won both group matches with a spectacular 6-1 score against Panama. These victories are partly due to the work of the English Football Federation curtains and creations.

The English players had to pull thick curtains around the hotel room. Football federation arranged for them special cushions. Some players even put family photos in the room to make it easier to sleep.

While Egypt's unfavorable travel schedule and the way the England team against the white nights in St. Petersburg is not the biggest factor determining their performance, at a competitive tournament like the World Cup, any small advantage or disadvantage can make a difference.

That's when football biology becomes important.

10:46 pm at St.Petersburg.

Sleep and performance in the World Cup

Many studies have found a direct link between sleep, having to travel long distances across multiple time zones for athlete performance and recovery. For players who compete in the World Cup, this is no exception. The more the team moves, the more risk of ineffective competition will be faced.

Sports editor Andrew Beaton in the Wall Street Journal has made a comparison, estimating the travel distance of the teams in the 2018 World Cup group. You will easily recognize, Egypt is the team that meets no matter. most beneficial. Followed by Nigeria, Finland, Denmark and South Korea.

Estimate the distance traveled by teams in the 2018 World Cup group stage.

We know that the training process will help the players become healthier, faster and more skillful. But they can't maintain their progress and style just thanks to the gym or the hours on the pitch. Even the bedroom and the closed hours play an extremely important role.

Sleep helps players recover both physically and mentally. Their muscles need to be healed, while the spirit needs to be relaxed after intense daytime exercise. Lack of sleep or low quality sleep can hinder this important recovery process, thus affecting players' performance.

A 2014 study followed athletes who had to move 14,695 km between venues. They had to go through 11 all time zones. The sleep time of the trip was only 5.9 hours, significantly lower than other nights.

Jet-lag has strongly influenced athletes on the first day when they arrive at the venue, and still lasts for the next 5 days. It is the fatigue that occurs after a long flight through many latitudes by the disturbance of the rhythm of life in the body due to the change of day-night of departure and destination when flying through many time zones.

Their health scores dropped significantly during the week after migration, compared with just a week earlier.

Another study published in 2015 showed that athletes' performance and sleep quality were greatly reduced if they had a night schedule and had to work hard. The study recommends that the training team pay special attention to the schedule and rest for athletes, then to suit their playing time and travel schedule.

Here are the common situations in sports competitions that may affect the performance of teams:

In the 2018 World Cup, players' schedule, training and sleep quality must be carefully monitored and considered, if the team wants to achieve the best results. The challenge really started before the tournament, Pierre Barrieu, a FIFA adviser said.

'The biggest challenge to sleep comes from teams' first flights to Russia, all of them will want enough time to recover , ' Barrieu said. 'That's why European teams have the advantage'.

Teams coming sooner will have an early advantage when they have enough time to adapt to their headquarters in Russia, including the time zone, altitude and climate. Keeping track of sleep quality, sleep time and players' daily performance can help medical staff in the team understand the situation and have a plan to minimize the impact of sleep and sleep disorders. .

Australia, the team with the most difficult journey to the 2018 World Cup, is the team doing this best. They had to play 22 games, more than any other World Cup team in history, visited 22 countries, moved more than 250,000km in 884 days, before being in Russia in the year finals. now on.

Technology has contributed to Australia's road to the World Cup.'We are using an advanced technology, capable of monitoring players continuously 24/7,' said Dr Craig Duncan, one of Australia's leading sports scientists.

Because the top Australian players are scattered throughout the world, it is difficult for the coaching staff to monitor their health status. For this reason, Duncan asked members of the national team to wear an Apple Watch while practicing, no matter where they are in the world.

'As long as they wear tracking devices, data will be put on the cloud and we will see them , ' he said. The data set allows Duncan to improve the national team's training regime, which is an important part of the team's championship in the 2015 Asian Cup.

In addition, to fight jet-lag and to travel long distances from a separate continent around the world, Australia has tried a light therapy to help regulate players' biological clocks. .

Dr. Ducan has given players wearing glasses that emit blue light to prevent them from producing melatonin, a hormone released at night when they sleep. The glass called Re-time , invented by Flinders University, has been used by Australian nationals since the end of 2017.

It has the same design as conventional sunglasses. However, Re-time is integrated with many LED lights to be able to illuminate with different intensity and color, to help players adjust the biological clock as desired.

This technology actually contributed to a 3-1 victory over Honduras in the final play-off match that helped them reach the 2018 World Cup.

Australian midfielder Matthew Leckie uses light therapy in flight before a match.

The sun is not setting in St. Petersburg

While some teams are at a disadvantage in long-distance travel between venues in Russia, some other teams are also at a disadvantage when playing in the North Pole. Costa Rica, England, Croatia, South Korea and Saudi Arabia are the 5 teams that have a schedule in St. Petersburg. Peterburg, the largest latitude city ever hosted World Cup matches from 1958 to the present.

Summer in St. Peterburg, the Sun does not set until midnight and will regrow soon around 3am. Even if the Sun was setting, the city was still not completely dark. It makes white nights in St. Peterburg is a special thing that attracts visitors to the World Cup, but it causes problems for players.

'It's strange but also very interesting,' said Costa Rica's Bryan Ruiz. 'We have to close curtains from 10:30 until 11:00. Otherwise we will not be able to sleep. ' Because of the white night and trouble sleeping, Ruiz said every player wants to leave the hotel to go out to play rather than going to sleep.

However, the human body works on a 24-hour biological clock, dependent and affected by the light-dark cycle on Earth, said neurologist Steven Lockey of Harvard University.The lack of darkness in St. Peterburg can disrupt the biological clock of players and reduce their performance.

10: 38 minutes at St.Peterburg, it's still as bright as day.

If it is equal, the teams should choose the venue and stay farther south, Lockley said. He has advised NASA, the US NBA NFL and basketball league, working with athletes, astronauts and riders who regularly encounter light-related sleep problems.

Lockley said whether a player from any team is in St. Petersburg. Peter should reduce exposure to light before sleeping. Light acts as a stimulant, similar to caffeine, even for blind people.

The human eye contains a protein that detects light called melanopsin , which is different from the rods and cones that people use to look, explains Lockley.

The light still stimulates melanopsin even when the light is off. Lockley said: 'The more you are exposed to light, the more alert you are and the more time it takes to sleep and less deep sleep'.

One of the teams that have a joint venture in St. Peterburg, the England team had a plan to deal with. Andy Walker, a spokesman for the Football Association, said their officials were particularly concerned about the players' sleep.

'We rented hotels and installed thick curtains, made from special materials , ' Walker said. The England team also uses special mattresses to maximize comfort. The health workers are always watching the health of the players closely.

In the first match in Russia, England defeated Tunisia with a 2-1 score, although the game was not good. However, everything seemed to be no longer a problem when they won Panama in the second match with a score of 6-1.

Inside a bedroom at the hotel where the England team resides.

With the same tactic, Croatia also defeated the influence of white nights in St. Petersburg. Peterburg. Tomislav Pacak, a spokesperson for the team, said the Croatian Football Federation had also arranged to add thick and dark curtains at the team's resort.'This works very well,' Pacak said.

Croatia defeated Nigeria in the first match, even a 3-0 victory over the Argentina champion.

While the disadvantages to body biology are not the biggest thing that decides the results of the teams' competition, sports science shows the supportive technologies, even modern like Re-time glasses. Or as simple as curtains, can increase 1-2% of performance.

And at a football tournament like the World Cup, any small advantage can make a difference.