Psychological and Physiological Changes Caused by Desynchronization Following Transzonal Air Travel

Abstract : It is known that air travel crossing several time zones results in alterations to the rhythms of physiological and bio-chemical parameters and in an impairment of well-being. From this knowledge a degradation of performance efficiency has been predicted. Furthermore, the degree of mental demand is supposed also to influence the degree of post-flight performance changes to be expected. In a previous publication the authors dealt with some results obtained from pilots performing the highly complex activity of flying a supersonic simulator after multiple time zone travel. It is the purpose of the present paper to describe further findings from these experiments.