Thousands can testify to the impact a long haul flight can have on the body, it's called jet lag.
Some of Australia's leading academics are now taking to the skies to find ways to mitigate its effect on the traveller's body.
The University of Sydney's Charles Perkins Centre has teamed up with Qantas as part of the airlines overall plan to improve the health and wellbeing of their customers.
It's well established that the long haul flight messes with a person's body clock as they become out of sync with their destination's time zone - causing all sorts of associated issues like disturbed sleep that ultimately impact overall health.
"Remarkably, however, there's been very little data published where people have studied passengers mid-flight to really seek the evidence we need to needed to mitigate jet lag," said Professor Steve Simpson, academic director of the Charles Perkins Centre.
To rectify this, a team of sleep medics, physicists, nutritionists and dietitians will work together, collecting data on what passengers are doing and feeling in the air.
Qantas frequent flyers will wear special technology to measure the impact the cabins lighting and temperature as well as in-flight food has on their biorhythms while on the airline's Perth to London flights which start in March.
This will then be analysed and used to refine the conditions within the aircraft to further improve how passengers feel after a long flight.
"The travelling public might use this new knowledge to change the way they prepare for and wind-down from a long trip," Prof Simpson said.
He believes the project offers the potential for "extraordinary" health, science and engineering discoveries.
"As scientists it's generating new knowledge that has an immediate impact and is translated meaningfully in the real world," Prof Simpson said.
"Some of the information may be fundamental and more generally relevant about metabolic health and diet and its relationship to chronic diseases like obesity and diabetes."
Some of Australia's leading academics are now taking to the skies to find ways to mitigate its effect on the traveller's body.
The University of Sydney's Charles Perkins Centre has teamed up with Qantas as part of the airlines overall plan to improve the health and wellbeing of their customers.
It's well established that the long haul flight messes with a person's body clock as they become out of sync with their destination's time zone - causing all sorts of associated issues like disturbed sleep that ultimately impact overall health.
"Remarkably, however, there's been very little data published where people have studied passengers mid-flight to really seek the evidence we need to needed to mitigate jet lag," said Professor Steve Simpson, academic director of the Charles Perkins Centre.
To rectify this, a team of sleep medics, physicists, nutritionists and dietitians will work together, collecting data on what passengers are doing and feeling in the air.
Qantas frequent flyers will wear special technology to measure the impact the cabins lighting and temperature as well as in-flight food has on their biorhythms while on the airline's Perth to London flights which start in March.
This will then be analysed and used to refine the conditions within the aircraft to further improve how passengers feel after a long flight.
"The travelling public might use this new knowledge to change the way they prepare for and wind-down from a long trip," Prof Simpson said.
He believes the project offers the potential for "extraordinary" health, science and engineering discoveries.
"As scientists it's generating new knowledge that has an immediate impact and is translated meaningfully in the real world," Prof Simpson said.
"Some of the information may be fundamental and more generally relevant about metabolic health and diet and its relationship to chronic diseases like obesity and diabetes."
Source: AAP
