Jet lag-busting ways of managing aircraft cabins, different airline food and in-flight exercise could save passengers millions of days a year of feeling lousy after flying, according to new research.
A study following test flights by Qantas also confirmed what most travellers know: All things being equal, passengers in a lie-flat situation in business class have a much better chance of recovering more quickly than those at the back of the plane.
Qantas is working with the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney on ways to minimise the impact of jet lag ahead of launching the longest flights in the world in 2025, starting with a Sydney-London non-stop service.
Different food, new meal times, building in exercise and leaving the cabin lights on longer at the start of a flight were found to cut jet lag.
The centre estimated that with 2.4billion people taking international flights a year, reducing jet lag by half a day could save 8.9 million days of suffering some of the symptoms.
Professor of sleep medicine at the University of Sydney, Peter Cistulli, said symptoms of jet lag included disturbed sleep, feeling fatigued, lacking alertness and lacking concentration.
“And some people also experience more physical complaints like headache, gastrointestinal disturbances and even a weakened immune response,” he said at an event Qantas hosted in New York.
Jet lag was a problem many people were going to experience and if the centre’s work could reduce it by even half a day that would have a big impact.
“First of all, we’ll be getting nine million days back to our leisure time, improve our productivity and all of this can result in economic benefits,” said Cistulli.
Jet lag is caused by travelling across time zones rapidly and a mismatch between our internal body clock and the light-dark cycle at the destination.
He said the more time zones crossed, the more severe jet lag is, and it is worst in an eastward direction — such as flights from New Zealand to the United States.
“These (symptoms) can be really quite debilitating and our joint Charles Perkins Centre-Qantas team has worked hard to understand the journey of a passenger and all the various elements that are part of ultra-long-haul flights.”
The research findings presented on Thursday followed Qantas test flights from London and New York to Sydney before the pandemic. With just 40 passengers on board they tested strategies to reduce jet lag and promote in-flight health.
Passengers were fitted with wearable-device technology to track movement, sleep and light exposure. Customers experienced a difference in food and beverage menus and service timings to encourage body clocks to adjust to the destination time zone.
Specific times were allocated for out-of-seat movement and activities.
Passengers completed a test on an iPad, similar to a game of “Whack-a-Mole” to gauge reaction time and attention.
They kept a daily log for a week prior to the flight, during the flight and for two weeks after the flight and noted how they felt throughout the study. The initial findings from a small sample found that, compared to customers on a traditional in-flight sequence of eating and sleeping, those on the tailored schedule experienced less severe jet lag and better quality sleep while on planes.
They also had better cognitive performance in the two days after flight.
The in-flight trials involved tailored cabin lighting schedules to encourage adaptation to the destination time zone and integrating simple stretch and movement activities.
They adjusted the timing of meal services to align the body clock and encouraged people to stay awake with spicy food and coffee, and to sleep by using specific menu items including fish and chicken paired with fast-acting carbohydrates, as well as comfort foods such as soups and milk-based desserts.
The aim was to promote the brain’s production of the amino acid tryptophan to help passengers drift off more easily.
The research flights “thoroughly rebuilt” the 19.5-hour flight experience. They had the cabin lights on for around nine hours at the start, encouraging passengers to watch movies each side of a meal, another meal with ingredients to encourage sleep, followed by an eight to nine-hour sleep period with lights down, then back on for 1.5 hours when another meal would be served before landing.
Exercise would be taken three times during the initial wake time and the cabin cooled just before sleep and warmed at the end of that period. A traditional airline experience would have lights up for about three hours followed by 12-14 hours of lights turned down and then back on for the remainder of the flight. Three meals would be served throughout.
Light timing and brightness is key to adjusting the brain’s circadian clock.
Optimal exposure to time cues improved adaptation but incorrect timing can hinder it significantly, said doctor of neurophysics and brain dynamics at the centre, Svetlana Postnova.
The research found economy class passengers in an optimised flight recovered quicker than business class passengers who weren’t.
However, where all passengers were on either optimised or traditional flights, those flying at the front of the plane had a better recovery time.
“This is mainly because in business class they have the opportunity to lie down or uninterrupted sleep. When you’re lying down and sleeping, neurotoxins that accumulate during wakefulness are flushed out from the brain,” said Postnova.
Qantas has been working with the centre since 2015 when it first began preparations to launch Perth to London non-stop flights, which it started in 2018.
On Thursday, it unveiled the full interior of its 12 new Airbus A350-1000ULR planes that are still to be built and will be used on Project Sunrise flights from late 2025, starting with Sydney-London and then to New York later in the decade.
The new Qantas aircraft will have a “wellness zone” for all passengers to use. It will be located between the premium economy and economy cabins featuring sculpted wall panels and integrated stretch handles, a guided on-screen exercise programme, a hydration station and a range of refreshments.
Chief executive Alan Joyce said the airline had taken to social media to challenge aircraft makers Airbus and Boeing for a plane to fly anywhere in the world from Australia. He said it was the equivalent of a Moonshot - and Airbus won the race.
Grant Bradley joined the Herald in 1993. He is the Business Herald’s deputy editor and covers aviation and tourism.
- The Herald travelled to New York courtesy of Qantas.
The airline sold its last slots at Heathrow in 2020.