If you fly your life might well be in the hands of air traffic controllers who have been up all night.. If you have to visit hospital with an emergency, you may be operated on by a doctor who has worked twice as hard as any pilot or controller..... There are plenty more people in the world who manage their working hours without being unduly fatigued - I did it for nigh on 40 years. It's just a matter of managing one's life appropriately.
This is all very true, but those jobs are much more exciting than a commercial pilots.
No disrespect to pilots, but having to adjust altitude, heading etc on an autopilot and changing radio frequency every now and then with the odd fuel calculation is not excatly edge of your seat stuff. So a bad nights sleep followed by an uneventful day in a flight deck will but most people to sleep.
I say if you feel tired in the flight deck, turn off the autopilot, that'll keep you awake for a while.
