Jet Lag Sleep Planner

Build a simple pre-flight jet lag sleep plan

Step 1 · Time zones
Step 2 · Your usual sleep
Jet lag sleep summary
Times shown in 24-hour clock

Enter the time difference, whether you’re flying east or west, and your usual bedtime. The planner suggests how many nights to start shifting before you fly, how big each shift should be, and approximate bedtimes to aim for each night. It’s a planning aid only and not medical advice.

Assumptions: Time difference is entered as a positive number of hours between your home time zone and your destination. The planner focuses on pre-flight sleep shifts only and keeps everything in your home time zone. Bedtimes are shown with a 24-hour clock (22:30 = 10:30 pm) and rounded to 15-minute steps for simplicity. Total shift is distributed over a small number of nights, with moderate changes each night rather than one big jump. This tool is not medical advice and doesn’t account for sleep disorders, medications, shift work, or doctor guidance. Always layer the schedule with your own comfort, travel day logistics, and advice from a healthcare professional where relevant.
Updated: November 23, 2025

Jet lag sleep planner — FAQs

How many days before a trip should I start shifting my sleep?

A common rule of thumb is to start 2–5 nights before you fly for big time changes. This planner uses your time difference to suggest a number of nights and a gentle shift per night, so you get closer to the new time zone without completely flipping your schedule in one go.

Is flying east really harder than flying west?

Many travelers find it tougher to move bedtime earlier (flying east) than later (flying west). The tool reflects that by framing eastbound trips as “earlier bedtime” shifts and westbound as “later bedtime” shifts, but the size of each shift still comes from the time difference you enter.

What if my trip is short and I come back in a few days?

For very short trips (for example, a 2–3 day visit), some people choose to stay closer to home time instead of fully adjusting. You can still use the planner to see what a full-adjustment schedule would look like, then decide whether to follow it fully, half-way, or just borrow a couple of earlier or later nights.

Should I also shift naps, meals, or caffeine?

This tool only tackles bedtime and total sleep window. In practice, many travelers also adjust meal timing, light exposure, caffeine, and exercise. If you have health conditions or are taking medication that depends on clock time, discuss any big changes with a healthcare professional first.

How to use this jet lag sleep planner

This jet lag sleep planner gives you a small, practical schedule for shifting your bedtime before a trip so your body clock is already moving toward the new time zone when you land. Instead of guessing how many days to start or how big each shift should be, you plug in a couple of basics and get a simple, shareable plan.

1. Enter the time difference and direction

Start with the time difference in hours between your home time zone and your destination. Use a positive number only, like 6 or 9. Then choose whether you’re flying east (you’ll need an earlier bedtime) or flying west (you’ll aim for a later bedtime). This is enough for the planner to understand how big a clock shift you’re trying to handle.

2. Add your usual bedtime and sleep length

Next, set your typical bedtime at home and your usual sleep length. The planner assumes you’re keeping roughly the same total sleep window and simply sliding it earlier or later. If your bedtime is around 23:00 and you sleep 8 hours, it will keep that shape and adjust the start time a bit each night.

3. Read the pre-flight adjustment plan

Hit Plan sleep and you’ll see:

  • How many nights of adjustment the tool suggests.
  • The approximate shift per night (for example, 1.5 hours earlier).
  • A night-by-night list of target bedtimes in your home time zone.

The goal is a plan that is realistic to follow around work, family, and trip prep, rather than a perfect circadian protocol.

4. Copy and tweak the schedule

Use the inline Copy summary button to grab a short text version you can paste into a note or send to your travel partner. If a particular night clashes with late packing or an early airport ride, shift that one manually — the math is flexible, and consistency over a few nights matters more than nailing every single bedtime.

This planner keeps things intentionally light: a simple time-difference input, a usual bedtime, and an output you can actually follow. If you have a complex sleep or medical situation, treat it as a rough starting point and check in with a clinician before making big changes.

How the jet lag sleep schedule math works

The math behind the planner is deliberately simple. Let Δ be the time difference in hours between your home time zone and your destination (entered as a positive number), and let your usual bedtime be B in hours after midnight (for example, 23.0 for 23:00).

First, the tool picks a small number of adjustment nights based on Δ. Very small differences often get a single night; larger differences get more nights, capped to keep the plan realistic:

Nights ≈ ceil(Δ ÷ 1.5) with a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 7.

The total shift is then spread evenly across those nights, giving a per-night shift of:

Shift per night = Δ ÷ Nights

If you’re flying east, the tool treats this as an earlier bedtime and subtracts the shift; if you’re flying west, it treats it as a later bedtime and adds the shift. For night d (counting from 1 up to the number of nights), the target bedtime is:

Bedtimed = B ± d × (Shift per night)

where the sign is negative for eastbound trips and positive for westbound trips. Times are wrapped into a 24-hour clock and rounded to the nearest 15 minutes. It’s all an approximation designed to give you something practical you can follow without needing to think about degrees, melatonin curves, or detailed chronobiology.

References and further reading