How Do Pilots Deal With Jet Lag?

Jet lag is one of the worst side effects of traveling through the night or across multiple time zones. Some people experience mild to no symptoms of jet lag, while it seems that most travelers deal with anything from mild jet lag that lasts a day to a stronger jet lag that stays with the individual for multiple days after. As constant travelers, pilots and flight attendants are subject to jet lag regularly.

Many have figured out how to handle jet lag so that it's less severe or with them for a shorter amount of time. Here are some ways that pilots mitigate the effects of traveling through multiple time zones. What is jet lag? From a (slightly) scientific perspective, jet lag is the feeling one gets when the body's internal clock is subjected to irregularity.



Humans' "body clocks" depend on a regular 24-hour light/dark cycle. Under normal circumstances, the pineal gland in the brain releases melatonin in response to darkness. Light, either sunlight or artificial light from screens, can inhibit the secretion of melatonin, which is why doctors and sleep experts universally advise avoiding phone and TV use before bedtime.

Since the human body has primarily evolved pre-air travel, humans aren't too adept at flying through time zones in just a few hours. It's similar to how humans aren't accustomed to the inner-ear sensations associated with flying, having evolved as land dwellers. The result is motion sickness.

In this way, jet lag can be considered "displacement sickness." Be well rested and ready to take on the day after flying on a red-eye flight. Eastbound & westbound Thankfully, jet lag doesn't usually manifest itself physically in the same way motion sickness does, but it still leaves an individual feeling pretty out-of-sync.

Many more people seem to feel worse and have a more challenging time adjusting to time differences after traveling east compared to flying west. This is due in large part to the way flight schedules are constructed. Eastbound flights from the US to Europe or Europe to Asia usually leave in the afternoon or evening and arrive the following morning local time.

The result is an arrival in a new city 5,000+ miles away between 2-6 am on one's body clock. Conversely, flights in the opposite direction leave early or mid-morning and arrive in the late afternoon or evening on the body's adjusted time clock. This makes it much easier to get to where you're going and fall asleep naturally, compared to "powering through" a day after spending an abbreviated night in the air with minimal rest.

Nap philosophy Despite being well-versed, pilots and flight attendants are not immune to strong jet lag after arriving from an overnight flight. The two most difficult flight sectors for US-based crews to recover from are overnight, redeye transcons from west to east, and international flights, especially those to Europe. Many pilots have a similar solution to both scenarios (which are very similar and feel nearly identical).

When they arrive at the hotel, crew members close the curtains as tightly as possible and grab a 90-ish minute nap. The point isn't to get acquainted with the new time zone but to get a shot of energy to allow them to make it through the rest of the day. A 90-120-minute nap on arrival seems to be the sweet spot for most people.

It's a delicate balance between getting too much and no sleep. Both extremes would likely mean the crew member can't fall asleep at the desired time that evening, which could mean being up for most of the night before working a flight in the morning. This is one of the most challenging balances to strike for long-haul crews, and it's hard to know how one's body will respond to this lifestyle multiple times per month before a pilot or flight attendant tries it out.

Layover construction Pilots rarely spend more than 30 hours on a layover. Exceptional circumstances exist in destinations that an airline serves only a few times per week, leading to longer layovers. This withstanding, the nature of most layovers following a redeye or overnight journey makes it more desirable for crew members to keep their bodies in their home's timezone rather than adjust for a short time.

The 90-minute nap helps accomplish this. It's usually pretty easy to fall asleep on arrival if the time falls within one's body's window of circadian low (between 2-6 am), and it also makes waking up from the nap a little easier if the 90-minute napping window falls right at the end of circadian low.Crew rest requirements are another measure that helps reduce the effects of jet lag.

Transcon redeyes (in the US) never have an additional pilot, but most international flights do (except for routes between the East Coast and Iceland or Ireland). The ability for pilots to grab a few hours of enroute sleep significantly mitigates the adverse effects of fatigue. It's a requirement at many airlines for the pilots in the control seats for the landing to take the latter breaks to ensure they're as fresh as possible.

This results in the augmenting pilot taking the first break shortly after takeoff. Keeping the red out of the eye Redeye and overnight flying present a unique challenge. While they can be more lucrative since larger planes are often used, constant trips across many time zones take their toll on the human body, which has not evolved for such long-range journeys over short periods.

The best way to manage redeye flying seems to be to keep the body in its adjusted time zone back home. This means pilots must be good at napping in the air and onboard the plane..