First year fatigue: how bad was yours, honestly, and when did it get better?

Month four was my worst. Months two to five are the hole. It got better around month seven when I learned to sleep on command and stopped fighting the roster.

Year one on LAX reserve was brutal. Year two I had a line and a routine. It is not you, it is the pattern.

Emirates year one, same. The body learns. Strength training twice a week helped more than anything.

Short haul earlies are a different tired. Month three I fell asleep in a car park. Month six I was fine. Blackout curtains and no phone in bed.

Now a nurse, ex crew. Nursing is easier on the body than year one crew. That says something.

Twelve years: it never fully goes away but it becomes manageable. The crew who last protect their sleep like it is their salary.

Asia routes from Helsinki, month five was my wall. Anchor sleep on layovers fixed it.

Qatar year one, I got sick constantly and tired constantly. Year two, neither. Immune system and body clock both adapt.

BA mixed fleet year one, the switching between long and short haul was the killer. It got better when I stopped trying to have a social life on trip days.

In training and this thread is terrifying and reassuring at the same time.

Reassuring is the word. Month seven is the target then. Thank you all, genuinely.