Timeshifter presentation at GBTA Convention 2019

What is the key to adapting to a new time zone?

Light is the key time cue for the circadian clock. Seeing the right light at the right time shifts you quickly to a new time zone, while the wrong light at the wrong time makes jet lag worse.

Transcript

Mickey Beyer-Clausen, Co-Founder and CEO, Timeshifter: Hi everyone, my name is Mickey Beyer-Clausen. I’m the co-founder and CEO of Timeshifter, a jet lag app that can help you shift quickly to new time zones. I’m here today to talk about jet lag science and how to timeshift to eliminate jet lag.

Last year, almost half a billion people traveled on long-haul flights, many of them on business trips. When asked, 93 percent of them said that they struggled with jet lag. At the same time, we know the consequences of jet lag are wide-ranging and can be costly. Yes, jet lag is not just about feeling off for a couple of days. And yet we’ve been doing it all wrong. We have relied on advice from non-experts, and we have trusted false product claims. Unfortunately, no existing solution can help you tackle the underlying cause of jet lag, and it might even make it worse. It’s time to replace guessing with science.

So the problem and the solution we’ll find inside our brain. In the hypothalamus part of the brain, there is a circadian clock. When we shift to a new time zone, we’re disrupting the clock and we feel the symptoms of jet lag. So what we need to do is reset that clock as quickly as we can to the new time zone.

What’s surprising to many is that light is the key time cue for the circadian clock. When we see the right light at the right time, we shift really fast to a new time zone. If we see the wrong light at the wrong time, we’ll make jet lag much worse. In addition to timed light exposure, the right type and the right dose of melatonin at the right time can help you shift faster.

For more than 10 years, world-renowned circadian and sleep scientist, Harvard professor and Timeshifter co-founder Dr. Steven Lockley has helped NASA apply this science. For the past five years, he’s also helped Formula 1 drivers, other elite athletes and top CEOs. In 2018, we launched the Timeshifter jet lag app together with Dr. Steven Lockley, so we can make these jet lag plans available to everyone who travels. And with Timeshifter, you can shift three to four times as fast to a new time zone as normal.

Mike Massimino, former NASA astronaut (video): I was thrilled to see that Timeshifter was now taking that plan that I was used to as an astronaut, where a lot of these smart people like Smith put it together for me. It’s not as easy as you think, but it’s great to have this app. I’ve used it for the past few months, I used it to travel here, and it’s absolutely fantastic. It gives you that plan, so that you’re ready to go.

Mickey Beyer-Clausen: So everyone can download this on the App Store and Google Play, but we’re also excited to launch a new business service that enables companies to bring this to their traveling employees in a really easy fashion – and with that, some inspirational and educational tools, and some monthly reporting, so you can see how many of the employees are benefiting from it and eliminating their jet lag faster. Thank you.