IMHO, more than a couple travel industry employees use alcohol, as a drug, to induce sleep. I can't think of a better "solution" to become, eventually, a raging alcoholic.

The real problem is sleep. Rest is a very genuine psychological need and you'll die without it. Sleep deprivation is real torture.

My employer has a lot of schedules which involve a 17:00'ish duty in for a flight that takes you into 02:00 body clock time. Then the employee is expected to come back to work around 24:00 and fly the leg back home arriving about 08:00 body clock time. There is plenty of time for "rest" but very little real opportunity.

For regional operations, it is common for one set of rotations to do the same, with one trip having late duty outs, followed by first flight of the day operations on the next rotation.

It is easy to fall into the trap that gets professional musicians who work long strange hours; a drug to go to sleep and a drug to wake up. Coffee and Alcohol are legal and readily available.

But alcohol destroys REM sleep. So while it helps you get to sleep in an odd, noisy, place, alcohol does not promote the deep sleep that is needed, so the person needs more sleep and turns to the same drug the following day / night. Our connected World only makes things worse as we get on lap tops and phones during our circadian opportunities for rest.

The airline industry, and regional air lines in particular, think nothing about running pilots to FAR limits of exhaustion only to throw them under the bus when a violation occurs.

Pilots need to full realize their responsibilities and plan accordingly. If scheduled for the impossible, call in fatigued. It sure beats sitting at a long table where every one in attendance has a glass of water, except for you.

If I were hiring for a major carrier one of my questions would be, "how to you manage your rest?" The answer would tell a whole lot about the applicant. Most of the people who do well in this business over the long term exercise while on trips. They try to unplug and they rarely miss an opportunity to sleep.

If they do drink, they typically are the one beer social drinkers who do so very early, so it is out of their system before they need to sleep.