Generally speaking, we try not to spend too much time worrying about the hypothetical plight of private jet owners. That said, you may remember how Taylor Swift’s last-minute appearance at Super Bowl XVIII left many of us short-lived time zone detectivefrantically calculating whether she would make it from her Eras Tour performance in Tokyo on February 10 to the Super Bowl in Las Vegas on February 11. It’s worth noting that we’re increasingly curious about the impact such travel can have on a person – celebrity or otherwise.
In this particular case, to watch Travis Kelce play in the Super Bowl, Swift had to cross the international date line, endure a 12-hour or so flight, and overcome a mere 17-hour time difference . She may not have shown it during the Kansas City Chiefs win, but in general, do people on private jets still suffer from jet lag? To find out, we asked some sleep experts (and people who own private jets).
Experts featured in this article:
Dr. Mike Gradisar is a clinical psychologist and Head of Sleep Science at Sleep Cycle.
Seema Khosla, MD, FCCP, FAASM, is the medical director of the North Dakota Sleep Center.
Do people still get jet lag when flying on a private jet?
It goes without saying that flying privately has its benefits. In fact, according to sleep experts and private fliers, traveling privately can actually help relieve jet lag for several reasons.
Light control
When it comes to jet lag, the first thing to consider is your circadian rhythm, or your body’s internal clock. Another word for jet lag is “circadian misalignment,” which basically means your body clock is out of sync with your time zone, explains Dr. Mike Gradisa. Light can greatly help change your circadian rhythm and synchronize your body clock with a different time. Exposing yourself to light or darkness can actually trick your body into falling asleep or waking up at a time it’s not used to, Dr. Gradisa says. This may allow you to “move to a new location faster and reduce jet lag,” he said.
Flying on a private jet gives you more control over cabin lighting, so if you need to sleep during the flight (or trick your body into thinking it’s nighttime) you can turn off the lights and switch off all The blinds don’t have to worry about the pilot randomly reopening them at every little notification. Lie-flat seats are also a major plus if your goal is to catch up on sleep and avoid jet lag while in the air.
In-flight entertainment
Another strategy for overcoming jet lag is to stay up late to recalibrate your system. In Swift’s case, assuming she leaves Tokyo around midnight local time on Saturday, February 10, after her show, she will most likely arrive in Las Vegas around 8 to 10 pm local time that night. (Yes, due to time zones, she’s basically traveled back in time—though thankfully not to December.) Instead of sleeping on the flight and landing well-rested (and thus unable to doze off at night in the U.S.) Send her into a jet lag spiral), and she might decide to stay awake as long as possible on the plane so that when she gets back to her bedroom in the U.S., she’ll feel fine and tired.
One source who agreed to be interviewed, *Peter, said that when he travels internationally on his family’s private jet, it is much more boring than commercial flights. He recalled one specific experience flying with his parents in international waters. “You feel like this airplane was designed for the people who were going to fly that day,” Peter said. “We have a TV. If we want to play video games, we can.” In other words, it’s easy to distract yourself from jet lag when you’re flying on a private jet.
Reduce stress
Another benefit of flying privately is that it’s much less stressful and reduces “cognitive load,” says Seema Khosla, MD, FCCP, FAASM. Dr. Khosla says when you fly business, you have to worry about everything from connecting to putting your carry-on luggage in the overhead bin. “By flying privately, you can remove that mental burden,” she said. Dr. Khosla explains that this could mean sleeping better when you need to fall asleep—whether that’s on a plane or arriving at your destination—because you don’t have as much “cognitive arousal.” As a result, you may not find yourself feeling tired or stressed from all the travel-related stress. Case in point: While Peter says he tends to feel a little grubby after commercial air travel, he always feels “pretty refreshed” after private travel.
What a private jet can’t do
That said, there are at least two jet lag triggers that even a private jet cannot offset. One is turbulence. “Smaller aircraft tend to be more susceptible to turbulence than commercial aircraft,” Dr. Gradisa said, noting that this could lead to sleep disturbances. However, many private jets can actually fly higher than commercial jets, which helps them avoid much of the dreaded turbulence.
The second thing a private jet can’t change, Dr. Gradisa says, is your specific sleep preferences, which can make jet lag more or less manageable. For example, if you’re a night owl like Swift, traveling in certain directions may feel more difficult. Dr. Gladisa said of Swift: “If she’s heading east to Las Vegas, then actually, if she’s a night owl, the direction her body wants to move is the same direction her body wants to move. Fortunately, as mentioned earlier, there are other ways to relieve jet lag on a private jet.
What we can learn from private jets
We can’t (and shouldn’t) all fly privately. But there are a few ways to get that private travel feel in the back of the plane. Dr. Khosla says starting with staying hydrated will help you sleep better during and after the flight. She added that having a good neck pillow also helps (a push I desperately needed). Dr. Gradisa points out that one of the big benefits of flying private is the reduction of distractions, but noise-canceling headphones and a sturdy sleep mask can also mimic that magic.
You can set yourself up for jet lag success by setting aside a few weeks forward Dr. Khosla says you travel to figure out what the time change will be like and to prepare your body so it’s less of a shock. A good mini-simulation of travel-related time changes is daylight saving time. When you decrease or increase an hour, if you usually have dinner at 6 p.m., you may still feel hungry around 6 p.m., even though it’s technically 5 p.m. But moving meal times up or down about 10 minutes each day during the week before the change can make things easier. “I did this with my fish, I did this when my kids were little,” Dr. Khosla said. The same strategy can be applied to time zone changes.
Like Taylor, who was an obvious mastermind, “you have to have a plan,” Dr. Khosla said.
— Additional reporting by Chandler Plante
Molly Longman is a freelance journalist who enjoys telling stories at the intersection of health and politics.
Chandler Plante is an assistant editor at PS Health and Fitness. She has more than four years of professional journalism experience, previously serving as an editorial assistant at People magazine and writing for Ladygunn, Millie and Bustle Digital Group. In her free time, she enjoys finding new ways to rock her 18 (!) different eye patches and making videos about chronic illness, beauty, and disability.
