Mention “jet lag” to someone, and he or she will likely offer you some pretend treatments for the infamous travel problem. But at the end of the day (or night, depending on your arrival time) it all comes down to disrupting a person’s natural circadian rhythm. One way to combat the annoying symptoms of jet lag may be on the plane itself, while en route to a passenger’s long-haul destination.
According to a Announcement July 19Researchers from Qantas Airways and the University of Sydney in Australia are expanding previous work on Project Sunrise, their ongoing effort to tackle jet lag. After publishing their preliminary findings Last year about possible improvements in the field of meal, exercise and lighting optimizations during the flight, researchers are taking this last variable one step further. Now the team is experimenting with the timed cabin lighting of an Airbus A350 that is directly inspired by the hues and varying intensities of Australian sunrises and sunsets.
“The new lighting scenarios for the A350 have been developed to optimize the circadian effects of light at different times during flights, while taking into account the light emission, atmosphere, safety and hardware requirements on board,” said Sveta Postnova, associate professor specializing in circadian modeling . at the University of Sydney Charles Perkins Centersaid in last week’s announcement, adding, “It’s great to see circadian science being translated into practice.”
The cabin lighting changes are intended for Qantas’ ultra-long-haul flights connecting New York and London to Australia’s east coast, which often take at least 26.5 hours. During these trips, air travel often forces a passenger’s circadian clock to adjust and jump forward two full days. But after more than 150 hours of simulations, researchers believe airlines can reduce some of the worst effects of jet lag through more precise manipulation of the timing, wavelengths and strength of cabin lighting.
During development, researchers at the Charles Perkins Center advised Qantas developers to focus on how varying light brightness affects circadian rhythms through what is known as melanopic illuminance. For example, blue-enriched light with high melanopic illuminance helps shift the internal clock to combat jet lag. Meanwhile, red lighting that uses longer wavelengths provides low melanopic illuminance to prevent circadian rhythms from shifting too much.
[Related: How to keep jet lag from ruining your vacation.]
After extensive testing at the Airbus Customer Definition Center in Hamburg, Germany, Qantas developed twelve separate lighting scenes. These include ‘Awake’, a broad-spectrum blue-enriched lighting intended to mimic a destination’s time zone while helping travelers stay awake and alert; ‘Sunset’, a simulated daylight-to-dark mode with sunset colors, cloud movements and nighttime moonlight; and ‘Sunrise’, where the early morning hours are projected from the front to the rear of the cabin.
While other air travel problems, such as sleep deprivation and restlessness, undoubtedly still disrupt the biological rhythm, the ability to eliminate at least some of the problems caused by ultra-long flights could one day make landings much smoother for passengers.