Airbus Thinks It Can Reduce Your Jet Lag

New line of jets has LED lights designed to help
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 29, 2015 11:37 AM CST
Airbus Thinks It Can Reduce Your Jet Lag
The Airbus A350 XWB.   (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

If it works, it could be an air-traveling perk to trump all others: no more jet lag. Airbus is making the bold claim that it can at least reduce the malady for those aboard its new A350 XWB line of jets. The main tool is a set of LED lights within the cabin that mimics natural shifts in sunlight and theoretically keeps people's natural circadian rhythms in sync, reports Fast Company. Another factor: Because of the planes' relatively light frames, they can be pressurized to 6,000 feet, which the airline says allows for more humidity and makes the air pressure inside the aircraft closer to the pressure on the ground than is the case with most jets, per Quartz.

A third factor is the jet's filtration system, which replaces the air in the cabin in its entirety every two to three minutes. The idea there is that, if nothing else, the improved air quality should help people sleep better on long flights. And the big question: Has it worked? It's a little too early to tell. The first such jet landed in the US only earlier this month via Qatar Airways, though other airlines plan to add the jet to their fleets, notes a post at Science Alert. (This protein might provide another way to fight jet lag.)

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