Jet lag from Delhi to New York: what to expect
Fly Delhi to New York and local time runs 10½ hours behind your body. Land at 15:20 and your body still thinks it's 01:50 in Delhi. That's the middle of your body's night. At 23:00 in New York, it's 09:30 for you.
That's a westward shift: your clock has to move later, which is the way it drifts on its own S1. Expect to be sleepy early in the evening for the first few days, and awake before your alarm S1.
At 10½ hours you're close to the far side of the world, where a clock could in principle shift either way. Adapting by delay is the more common route at that distance S1.
How long does jet lag last from Delhi to New York?
Unaided, westward shifts settle somewhat faster than a day per time zone: about 7 days for this one. S6 S7
Your body can't go faster than ~7 days here. The plan's job is making them livable: protected sleep, no wrong-way light, functional days.
That's what the plan aims at, not a promise — bodies vary.
On night one the plan's bedtime is 18:30, early by New York's clock, and it moves later night by night, reaching 23:00 by night 8.
Studies of aircrew point the same way: after large shifts, westward adaptation runs roughly 50% faster than eastward S6 S8. This trip is on the quick side of that.
What does the plan say for a typical Delhi to New York flight?
- Departs
- 11:00 Delhi time
- Lands
- 15:20 New York time
- In the air
- about 14h 50m (estimate)
- Light, landing day
- 16:10–17:10 Seek bright light (delay shift)
- Last caffeine, landing day
- 10:30 on the plane
- Last caffeine, first full day
- 13:00
- First night's sleep
- 18:30–02:30
Westbound flights often go by day, so this example leaves Delhi at 11:00 and lands in New York at 15:20 in the afternoon, after about 14h 50m in the air.
The flight time is our estimate for a nonstop from the distance, and the trip is set in January. It's the default traveler from the calculator: usually asleep 23:00 to 07:00, no melatonin, Real Life effort.
In July the gap is 9½ hours, not 10½, because New York moves its clocks and Delhi doesn't.
On board, the plan keeps you awake apart from a short nap at 02:30 New York time, saving the real sleep for the night in New York.
The day before you fly, the plan keeps your morning dim, 07:00–09:00 Delhi time, and the sun is up in Delhi by about 07:14 in January, so plan on sunglasses for the commute.
On landing day your last coffee comes on the plane, at 10:30 New York time, and the plan has none between landing and your first night's sleep. From 02:30, when you wake from that first sleep, it allows it again, until 13:00.
January days are short in New York: about 10 hours of daylight. The sun sets in New York at about 16:56 in January, partway through the 16:10 light step on landing day, so start it outside.
What helps after flying west to New York?
Going west, you want light before your body's low point, which usually means bright light in the evening and staying up a little later S1. Bright light first thing in the morning works against you. East vs west explains why this direction is the easier one.
On a shift this size, starting before you fly pays off. The Frontiers review describes moving bedtime 30 to 60 minutes later each day for 3 to 4 days before a westward trip S1. The plan's version is one night: bed at 00:00 the night before you fly, an hour later than usual.
And the flight home from New York?
New York to Delhi is the same 10½ hours the other way, eastward. It's the harder direction: about 11 days unaided, and the plan targets 9. Jet lag from New York to Delhi has the details.
More routes from Delhi
Sources
Numbered from the site-wide source registry — every Delagged page uses the same numbering.
- S1 Roach GD, Sargent C. Interventions to Minimize Jet Lag After Westward and Eastward Flight. Frontiers in Physiology, 2019;10:927. doi:10.3389/fphys.2019.00927
- S6 Waterhouse J, Reilly T, Atkinson G, Edwards B. Jet lag: trends and coping strategies. The Lancet, 2007;369:1117–29. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)60529-7
- S7 Eastman CI, Burgess HJ. How to travel the world without jet lag. Sleep Medicine Clinics, 2009;4:241–55. doi:10.1016/j.jsmc.2009.02.006
- S8 Samel A, et al. Aircrew adaptation after transmeridian flights, 1995. As cited in Waterhouse et al., The Lancet 2007 (S6). Full text Cited via S6.