World first research from Qantas’ Project Sunrise test flights has today been revealed, and there’s some juicy findings in its about how to arrive at your destination feeling refreshed. 

Qantas and the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre have today released world first research, showing it is possible to reduce jet lag by reshaping the inflight travel experience in three key ways.  

How must the rattle-through-the-sky experience be reshaped? According to Qantas’ findings, if you don’t want to arrive at your destination feeling like a reanimated corpse, you’ll want your airline to be doing the following.

The first way is to adjust lighting and sleep schedules. The second is to tweak mealtimes and use specific ingredients like chilli and chocolate (to entice you to be asleep or awake at the correct times). The third is to incorporate movement and exercise into flights. 

The world-first research was done during test flights for Qantas’ Project Sunrise program. Project Sunrise will connect Sydney directly with New York and London for the first time ever from late 2025.  

Related story: Air New Zealand unveils incredible new economy ‘bunk beds’ 

Qantas flew three Project Sunrise research flights from New York and London to Sydney in 2019 and – with help from Sydney’s  Charles Perkins Centre – collected real-world passenger data along the way. 23 volunteer customers were hooked up to wearable technology during the 20-hour flights, as they followed a specially designed menu, lighting, sleep and movement program.

Qantas says that compared to customers on a traditional sleeping and eating schedule, those on the tailored one reported feeling less severe jet lag. They also experienced better sleep quality inflight and better cognitive performance two days after the flight. 

Qantas says they tailored the cabin lighting to optimise adaption to the destination time zone, integrated stretch and movement activities and changed the timing of meal services to align the body clock to the destination time zone.

This involved encouraging wake and sleep patterns with specific foods “including fish and chicken paired with fast-acting carbohydrates, as well as comfort foods like soups and milk-based desserts.”

Related story: Qantas launches almost direct flights from Sydney to NYC

“The aim was to promote the brain’s production of the  amino acid tryptophan (‘Tryp’) to help passengers drift off more easily,” Qantas explains. 

Peter Cistulli, Professor of Sleep Medicine at the University of Sydney said while the research was ongoing, there were clear signs that the interventions reduced the impact of ultra  long-haul travel.

“The early results are promising, and it’s given us great momentum to look to the next stage of customer research to support Project Sunrise product and service design,” said Professor Cistulli.

“We have a multi-disciplinary team of more than ten researchers from medicine, science and engineering  backgrounds working together on this project. This includes sleep researchers, circadian experts,  nutrition and movement experts. No airline has ever done this kind of research before.”

“The early findings have given us optimism that we can make a real difference to the health and wellbeing  of international travellers thanks to this partnership with Qantas.” Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said Qantas was excited by the prospect of minimising jet lag and revolutionising international flying for all.

“Given our geography, Qantas has a long history of using imagination and innovation to overcome the  tyranny of distance between Australia and the rest of the world,” said Mr Joyce. 

“Now that we have the aircraft technology to do these flights, we want to make sure the customer  experience evolves as well, and that’s why we’re doing this research and designing our cabins and service differently.”

Related story: Air New Zealand is crowned Airline of the Year for 2023

“Our A350s will have about 100 fewer seats than most of our competitors, which gives us room for more  space in all classes as well as a Wellbeing Zone for Premium Economy and Economy passengers to  stretch. People can choose how they spend their time but we’ll make recommendations based on science around menu choices and best times to eat or rest. That extends to before and after the flight to improve  how people feel when they arrive on the other side of the world.”

“Importantly, these direct flights actually cut total travel time by more than three hours compared to one stop services.” 

The research is set to continue, too. Later this year, the Charles Perkins Centre and Qantas will take part in a first ever combined lighting workshop at Airbus’  Hamburg headquarters, where specialists will design the lighting settings for the aircraft, including reviewing the optimal brightness and colour tone settings for each part of the flight. 

Qantas is scheduled to receive its first A350 in late 2025, with the Project Sunrise launch route between Sydney and New York expected to take off shortly after. 

This story originally appeared on escape.com.au. It has been reproduced here with permission. 

Related story: This is what flying Economy on Qantas’ 22-hour direct flight from Sydney to New York and London will look like