it’s the bottom of the ninth. the bases are loaded with two outs. your favorite mlb team is pitching. who do you want on the mound? a recent research study would indicate that you should take his sleep habits into account before answering. a recent study presented at the 24th annual meeting of the associated professional sleep society looked at just this question. the results indicate that there appear to be two big factors for that pitcher on the mound: * is he a morning lark or a night owl? * is it a day or night game? the researchers found that pitchers who were morning types (“early birds”) as indicated on a special questionnaire performed better than those who are “night owls” overall. in the early games (those that began before 7 p. m. ) the era for pitchers who were early birds was 3. 06 while the era for the night owls was 3. 49. however if the game was in the evening (7 p. m. or later) night owl pitchers were only slightly better with an era of 4. 07 then early bird pitchers with an era of 4. 15. this research also reinforces the thought that peak physical performance is typically best for most athletes between mid-afternoon and early evening (before 7 p. m. ). the study involved eighteen pitchers from five mlb teams including: the la dodgers ny mets philadelphia phillies sf giants and the tampa bay rays. the researchers used data from a total of 1 573 innings pitched during the 2009 season and were able to account for jet lag (i. e. time zone change). so what does this mean for the boys of summer? well not only does the early bird catch the worm but he also seems to strike out the batter!
how do my sleep habits affect my waking hours?