Sleep experts chime in on Rams' travel after NFL opening loss

Sean McVay probably won’t win the Nobel Prize for breakthrough discoveries of circadian rhythm and travel.

McVay, head coach of the Los Angeles Rams, and his team arrived in Australia about 24 hours before kickoff for their NFL season opener against the San Francisco 49ers.

The 49ers, who arrived a week before the game, walloped the Rams, 27-7, at Melbourne Cricket Ground.

"I don’t believe (the travel plan) is why we didn’t play well enough," McVay said after the game. “I really don’t.”

Fariha Abbasi-Feinberg, president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, saw things differently.

“The 49ers showed up rested and circadian ready,’’ she told USA TODAY Sports. “Their strategy of allowing their physiology to adjust shows that well rested teams don’t just feel better, they play better."

Michael Breus, a clinical sleep specialist, pointed out there was no data to examine other than the score.

“(But) I’d say the Rams need more sleep to be able to adapt to that type of change,’’ he told USA TODAY Sports.

The general principle for adjusting to jet lag is a day for every time zone crossed, said Susheel Patil, system director and section chief for sleep medicine at the University Hospitals of Cleveland.

“Seems like the travel ahead strategy worked out for the 49ers,’’ he told USA TODAY Sports. “I think most sleep docs would favor the strategy if you did a poll.’’

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