Land sharp, not wrecked 🌙
Science-backed light, caffeine, and sleep timing — tuned to your trip.
✈ Got a trip coming up?
Plan your sleep before the trip plans it for you
Quick tools
Tonight's arrival checklist
🧭 Shift Planner
Tell me your trip. I'll build a light / caffeine / melatonin / sleep glide plan.
🧰 Sleep Tools
Fast, one-handed, work offline in the crew bunk or hotel.
💤 Strategic nap calculator
Short trips and reserve life run on naps. Nap by full cycles or keep it under 25 min — the in-between zone is where grogginess lives.
📋 Trip Protocols
Pick the trip you're flying — here's the playbook, start to finish.
🔬 The Science
Why this works — the short, honest version.
Your body clock runs on light
Deep in your brain, the suprachiasmatic nucleus keeps a ~24-hour clock that decides when you're alert and when you're sleepy. It sets itself mostly by one signal: light hitting your eyes. Jet lag is just your internal clock being in a different timezone than your body. The fix is deliberately shifting that clock — and light is the strongest lever you have.The one rule that decides everything: your temperature minimum
Your core body temperature bottoms out roughly 2 hours before your normal wake time (the "Tmin"). This is the hinge point:Light AFTER Tmin
Seeing bright light in the hours after your temperature low advances your clock — pulls everything earlier. This is what you want flying east.Light BEFORE Tmin
Bright light in the late evening / before your temp low delays your clock — pushes everything later. This is what you want flying west.East is a beast
Flying east (say, US → Europe) means advancing your clock, and your body can only pull earlier by about 1 hour per day. Flying west you can delay by ~1.5 hrs/day — easier, because our natural clock runs slightly longer than 24 hours anyway. That's why the same 6-hour shift feels brutal eastbound and manageable westbound.Melatonin: a timing tool, not a sleeping pill
Melatonin is the hormone that tells your brain "it's night." Taken at the right time, a low dose (0.5–1 mg) nudges your clock; taken late in the biological night it can shift you the wrong way. It works opposite to light — an evening dose helps you go to bed earlier (eastbound). It is not a knockout sedative, and more is not better.Caffeine and naps are the day-to-day tools
Caffeine blocks the "sleep pressure" chemical adenosine for hours — a strategic cup fights afternoon crash, but too late steals deep sleep. Naps pay down sleep debt, but timing and length decide whether you wake up refreshed or wrecked. Both tools live in the Tools tab.When NOT to adapt
On a quick turn or a 1–2 night trip crossing many zones, fully flipping your clock is a losing battle — you'd just get home wrecked. The smarter play is staying on home-base time with anchor sleep and strategic naps. The Shift Planner flags this automatically.💊 Melatonin quick guide
Eastbound (advance): 0.5–1 mg about 30–60 min before your target local bedtime, for the first few nights.
Westbound (delay): usually not needed; if you wake at 3am local, a tiny dose can help you get back down.
Dose: low (0.5–1 mg) beats high. Timing matters more than amount. Avoid alcohol; don't drive after taking it.
Westbound (delay): usually not needed; if you wake at 3am local, a tiny dose can help you get back down.
Dose: low (0.5–1 mg) beats high. Timing matters more than amount. Avoid alcohol; don't drive after taking it.
Not medical advice. FA Flight Club's Jet Lag & Sleep Protocol is educational and built on published circadian-rhythm research. Everyone's physiology and roster differ. Talk to a doctor before starting melatonin or any supplement, especially if you're pregnant, on medication, or managing a health condition — and always follow your airline's fitness-for-duty and rest requirements. Safety first, always.