I flew to Australia and had zero jet lag thanks to this iPhone app

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At midday, the human inquired: ‘But what time is it, really?’

It's the only drawback to exploring the world, and travellers have spent years trying to steer clear of it.

Fair dinkum, it's the potassium. Others take sleeping pills, but these can be addictive and don't always work properly.

I reckoned I'd have to put up with it – that is, until a workmate from Australia told me about the app Timeshifter and, spoiler alert, it completely turned things around for me.

What's the way the Timeshifter app operates?

astronaut training.

When you cross time zones, this gets disrupted.

According to Timeshifter, the app combines 'the only elements proven to reset the circadian clock', (light-dark exposure and melatonin) along with those that 'relieve the symptoms' (light, melatonin, caffeine and naps).

The concept is straightforward. You input your flight details, including date and time, and a schedule is generated for you. Your initial plan is complimentary, with subsequent plans costing $9.99 (approximately £7.97) each.

A $24.99 (nineteen dollars and ninety-four cents) subscription which offers unlimited plans for a full year.

You'll be given instructions on when to sleep, take naps, get (or avoid) sunlight, and when to have a coffee or take supplements.

Given that melatonin is prescription-only in the UK, I wouldn't be taking it – but you can pass this info on to Timeshifter, and your schedule will be adjusted accordingly.

Testing Timeshifter

I was due to fly out at 9am on a Sunday, so I was surprised when my schedule started on the Friday before. I was told to get up by 7am, and make sure I was asleep by 10pm.

I'm getting ready for bed at 9pm.

Then came the day of my flight, where I had to set my alarm for 3am. This felt like a pretty harsh wake-up call, considering I didn't have to leave for the airport until 5:30am.

Fair dinkum, Timeshifter told me to get on the caffeine pronto, which at this point was pretty much a must.

I also needed some light, but, you know, it was as dark as a coal mine. So I turned on every light in my place and hoped that would do the trick.

Things started to get a bit strange when I boarded my flight at 9am. By this time I wasn't allowed to have a cup of coffee, while my fellow passengers were enjoying their espressos.

However, I trusted the process, and when it was time to head off to bed at 3pm London time, I was feeling fairly sleepy.

At 4pm UK time, or 6pm our time, I should have kipped at the airport, but the anxious part of me was too worried about missing the connecting flight, so I stayed awake.

plane (it would be a massive 14-hour trip), and it was time to get some shut-eye. Again, it's easier said than done; I had some tucker and watched an hour or so of Ocean's 11 before finally drifting off.

Fair dinkum, the military schedule's got a fair bit of pressure on it, making it hard to unwind. But, I stuck to it as closely as I could, and was only ever about an hour or so out of my plan.

I had to set an alarm to wake up after six hours, and, as instructed by Timeshifter, start downing the caffeine. Again, this felt a bit counter-intuitive. It was the middle of the night in both the UK and Doha, and almost all my fellow passengers were catching some Zs.

Still, I did as I was told, and watched Oceans 8 and 12 before my final scheduled snooze six hours later (8am in Doha). By this stage, I was fair dinkum, had no idea what time it was, so I was stoked to have Timeshifter making decisions for me.

After an hour, I was waking up as the plane began to descend, and it was 5pm in Sydney. And, somehow, I was feeling all right?

Stepping off a 14-hour flight, I was feeling as desperate as Andy Dufresne trying to escape from Shawshank. But whereas I'd have had cabin fever and a sore neck, I was actually wide awake.

At the hotel, I had a feed without conking out in my pasta, and then, it was time to hit the hay.

As we headed back to our hotel rooms, my mates said they were as wide awake as ever, considering it was still morning back in England, but I was feeling more than ready to catch some Zs.

How did I sleep? Like a bloody log.

The next morning, my travel companions were talking about their exciting nights. One of them had got up at 3am and taken a ferry ride around Sydney Harbour to catch the sunrise. Meanwhile, I was having a peaceful sleep.

While others were feeling pretty miserable and popping sleeping pills for the next few days, I was feeling pretty pleased with myself about my Timeshifter experience.

Since then, I've been going on and on about it to anyone who'll listen. If you're doing a long trip, I reckon I can't stress it enough.

Got a yarn to spin?

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