Flight attendants' desynchronosis after rapid time zone changes.

The aim of the present study was to measure perceived effects of rapid time zone changes on flight attendants' sleep length, quality, adaptation, and recovery time, and to clarify the individual factors related to perceived desynchronosis after time zone changes. The mean age of 285 female subjects was 35.0 years and that of 57 men was 34.1 years. The data were gathered by means of a questionnaire filled out by all Finnish flight attendants who worked on transmeridian routes. The quality of sleep, perceived adjustment, and recovery times were dependent on the flight direction and on the number of time zones crossed. The effects of age, neuroticism, and sex partly explained the variation of perceived desynchronosis, which increased linearly with increasing age and neuroticism.