Jet Lag, Sleep Timing, and Sleep Inertia
Publication Date
1-1-2023
Document Type
Contribution to a Book
Publication Title
The Handbook of Fatigue Management in Transportation: Waking up to the Challenge
DOI
10.1201/9781003213154-18
First Page
195
Last Page
213
Abstract
This chapter explores the causes, consequences, and countermeasures of jet lag, mistimed sleep, and sleep inertia. Jet lag can occur when rapidly crossing multiple time zones (e.g., trans-meridian travel for long-haul pilots). The desynchrony between the body’s biological clock, or circadian rhythm, and the new day-night cycle can lead to indigestion, sleep disturbances, fatigue, and cognitive impairments. Mistimed sleep can also occur within a time zone. In the case of night shiftwork, sleep is displaced to the daytime which leads to poor sleep and increased fatigue at night due to the combination of pressures from the two-process model of sleep regulation: sleep loss (homeostatic pressure) and being awake when the body is promoting sleep (circadian pressure). There is also a third process of sleep regulation called sleep inertia, which refers to the brief period of fatigue and impaired cognitive performance experienced after waking. Sleep inertia can be a fatigue risk for transportation workers who work on-call (e.g., emergency services) or who nap on shift (e.g., long-haul truck drivers) and are required to perform a safety-critical task soon after waking. For each of these fatigue risks, strategic exposure to bright light can be used to help realign sleep timing and to promote alertness.
Department
Research Foundation
Recommended Citation
Cassie J. Hilditch and Dorothee Fischer. "Jet Lag, Sleep Timing, and Sleep Inertia" The Handbook of Fatigue Management in Transportation: Waking up to the Challenge (2023): 195-213. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003213154-18
