Bill Ashton developed the StopJetLag system in collaboration with one of chronobiology's preeminent scientists, Dr. Charles Ehret.
Unlike other solutions, StopJetLag leverages and integrates personal profiles, flight schedules, and applied research in chronobiology, providing travelers with the most comprehensive and accurate means of beating jet lag, even for those with difficult flight times or complex multi-stop itineraries.
The team's specialized software allows StopJetLag to determine the best jet lag avoidance scenario for any flight schedule. The result is a customized StopJetLag plan that takes into account the particular details of each trip, as well as the traveler's personal habits.
This makes it possible to identify times during a travel itinerary when 'core sleep' may be possible and prescribe specifically timed activities to optimize that sleep schedule.
Bill Ashton's interest in creating the StopJetLag plan expert system started as a result of his own experience with jet lag in a variety of work-related roles.
As a worldwide tour manager for the Al Stewart Band, he was responsible for preparing seven band members, three managers and eight others to give performances in the United States, Europe and Japan. At that time, five days were allotted for the group to adjust to a new time zone after flying to Europe and Japan from the United States. This resulted in substantial expenses for hotels, meals and wages.
At the end of one tour, Ashton flew from Hawaii directly to Saudi Arabia, where he accepted a position as a construction project supervisor. Again, he experienced sleepless nights for several days.
Frequent travel was also unavoidable as a coach of the Aspen Ski Club and Australia Junior National Ski Team. The Australian team, even though young, required several days to recover from jet lag when they arrived in the United States.
Already interested in creating an antidote for jet lag, Ashton was fortuitously offered the opportunity to work with Dr. Ehert, the preeminent expert in chronobiology (body clock science). The collaboration was the catalyst for developing the StopJetLag software. Over several years, Ashton incorporated the latest research into the StopJetLag system, which was used determine the safest and most effective jet lag avoidance method given the specific complexities of individual flight schedules.
You're probably wondering what prompted me to want to help travelers stop jet lag on their trips.
My past experiences with jet lag started while working as the worldwide tour manager for the Al Stewart band, coaching the Australian junior national ski team and leading a construction project in Saudi Arabia.
One of my main goals for each of these jobs was to help my associates achieve their peak performance levels at the appropriate time of day for their activities.
Here is a summary of the peak performance times of day for each of these travelers.
Unfortunately for my associates at the time I was doing these jobs, no one had any proven scientific insights into jet lag that were helpful in rapidly syncing up to the new time zones.
All of these challenging experiences convinced me to create a comprehensive StopJetLag service to help other travelers on their long distance business trips now that proven scientific research can be used to beat jet lag.
Dr. Charles Ehret - Argonne National Laboratory, Division of Biological and Medical Research 1948 to 1988 when he retired; Director of Circadian Rhythms and Neurobiological Chronobiology
"Dealing with jet lag is a complex problem. I tried for many years to come up with rules of thumb for dealing with jet lag by incorporating each and every one of the scientifically proven body clock re-setters (zeitgebers) and finally realized that every trip needs to be individually analyzed for sleep deprivation (an impossible task by hand given the unlimited number of possible flight itineraries). That's when StopJetLag founder, Bill Ashton, and I needed to write an sophisticated computer program to make such knowledge available to all travelers,"
commented well-respected sleep expert, Dr.Charles Ehret.
"The program is able to identify and then select the optimum times during the schedule when 'core sleep' may be possible and then keys the rest of the prescribed routine to that optimum sleep schedule."
"The recommendations can even be fine-tuned to prepare travelers for a specific meeting scheduled during their trip! StopJetLag represents an extraordinary achievement in applied research."
Bill Ashton has been using computer science to solve problems in jet lag using chronobiology (the study of body clocks) and the solar energy field for over 30 years.
After frequently traveling abroad as the worldwide tour manager for the Al Stewart band, Ashton took on the task of developing scientifically-based software that calculates the precise times to engage in specific activities that naturally shift the body clock to the destination time zone. Prior to founding StopJetLag, Ashton created a computer program that analyzed and optimized designs for residential solar panels.
He studied with John Kemeny, the creator of the BASIC computer language at Dartmouth College where he graduated with a B.A. in Mathematics and Computer Science. Before attending Dartmouth, Ashton studied at the Deerfield Academy, where he received the Bauch & Lomb Science Award.
Until retirement in 1988, Dr. Charles Ehret spent 40 years at the Argonne National Laboratory, Division of Biological and Medical Research. Prior responsibilities include his tenure as Director of Circadian Rhythms and Neurobiological Chronobiology. He was a member of the International Society for Chronobiology since early the early 1950's and served as Vice President and Editor of Chronobiotechnology and Chronobiological Engineering.