Circadian science has been a critical part of enhancing the safety and performance of astronauts on space missions for a long time. Circadian plans are carefully crafted to help astronauts reduce jet lag when traveling for training visits, align with rocket launch and spacewalk timing, and control their day-night cycle when living aboard the International Space Station, including shifting their schedules for space walks, docking and undocking. Mission controllers are provided with circadian plans to support these missions 24/7, without compromising anyone’s safety.

Since 2010, Harvard Medical School Associate Professor Dr. Steven W. Lockley has provided this advice to NASA working with NASA Flight Surgeon, Dr. Smith L Johnston and colleagues. In 2017, through an introduction in New York, Dr. Lockley met Mickey Beyer-Clausen, a technology entrepreneur from Denmark, living in New York, and Jacob Ravn, an award-winning UX designer. They realized that they had the experience and technical expertise to make Dr. Lockley’s science-based plans accessible to the masses. Dr. Johnston, former NASA Astronaut Mike Massimino and NASA, and Axiom Space Astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, became early investors and advisers given the benefits they saw and experienced with Dr. Lockley’s circadian solutions.

In 2018, Timeshifter launched its first product — now the most-downloaded and highest-rated jet lag app in the world. Based on more than 80,000 post-flight surveys, travelers who followed Timeshifter's advice versus travelers who didn’t follow their Timeshifter plan were 16 times less likely to report very severe jet lag. Recently, Timeshifter launched a new app to help shift workers optimize their sleep, alertness, health, and quality of life. At least 20% of the global labor force are shift workers, changing to a new schedule soon after they adapted to the previous one, or never adapting at all.

They also realized that circadian science could be taken far beyond jet lag and shift work to other circadian disorders, or enabling peak performance or maintaining our circadian balance, and then to the entire medical field given the unity of circadian rhythms in our physiology and metabolism. The importance and health impact of timing when we sleep, eat, exercise, go to school and work, take medications and vaccines, have blood samples taken, or even when to have surgery, opens up an enormous opportunity far bigger than the emerging but multi-billion dollar sleep revolution. Timeshifter is at the head of this circadian revolution.