These new airport lounges are designed to fight jet lag

Bloomberg

A stretching studio. Guided meditation sessions. Shower suites with light therapy. They sound like the features of a New Age spa. But all are elements of Qantas Airways’ new international transit lounge at the Perth Airport. And they’re all designed with one purpose in mind: helping you combat jet lag.
For the Australian carrier, this is an especially relevant proposition — it launched a new non-stop route from Perth to London in March, which — at 17 hours and 20 minutes on the outbound—is among the longest in the world. Qantas is not alone in this regard.
Singapore Airlines Ltd. has just debuted a new record-setting route that hops 12 time zones, from its namesake hub to Newark, in 18 hours and 45 minutes.
As farther-apart cities become increasingly connected by direct flights, more and more airlines are stocking their lounges with wellness-related features.

The Lounge of the Future
“Customers travelling on our Perth to London service are in the air for approximately 17 hours, so it was important to improve the experience not just on board, but also pre- and post-flight,” says Phil Capps, Qantas’s head of customer experience.
The airline’s new, purpose-built transit lounge is open only to travellers flying business class on flights between Perth and London. (Qantas Gold, Platinum, and Platinum One elites on the flight can also enter.) It was designed in collaboration with scientists at the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre, an interdisciplinary research institute that studies well-being and chronic conditions, many of which share the symptoms of jet lag.
Like most high-end airline lounges, it includes the requisite spa treatments and gourmet dining. More notable are the details that assist passengers with “flight recovery.” An airy patio area, for instance, has ceiling shades that can be opened to let in natural light and boost passengers’ vitamin D, which promotes healthier sleep patterns.
The lounge’s 15 shower suites—essentially private bathrooms with vanities but no toilets—have special light settings on the wall. Push the one labeled “Light therapy/Body clock intervention,” and the vanity mirror will glow with a bright, blue frequency of around 480 nanometers.
According to Dr. Yu Sun Bin, an epidemiologist at the Charles Perkins Centre, it’s a wavelength that promotes wakefulness and alertness.
“The outbound flight leaves from Perth to London at 6 pm,” Bin tells Bloomberg, “so most passengers will have body clocks that are starting to wind down for the day.”
The blue light, he says, can trick the body into believing that it’s earlier in the day—closer to London time. It’s just a small way to nudge the circadian rhythm towards the destination time zone a little faster.
Qantas has also partnered with a Perth spa brand called Bodhi J Wellness Spa Retreats to create a studio space within the lounge where passengers can participate in 15-minute guided stretching, breathing, and meditation sessions. According to Bin, participating in light physical activity might improve passengers’ chances of sleeping on the flight, lessening their jet lag on arrival.
Qantas is ahead of the pack when it comes to jet-lag science.