Staying awake
Dominic,
I will try to shed some light on the sleep issues for you. I just left home yesterday, east coast of the USA. I arrived at my base in asia 14 hours later. I slept to 2 am local time and went back to bed at 6 am to try to get some sleep before my assigned trip back to the east coast of the USA. My departure time is 1930 local time which will be 0530 as far as my body clock is concerned. Spend 12 months a year, over a career at this and it's hard to tell when the body might want to sleep. I know it does not explain the short sector issue but I was once a commuter pilot and flying 6 to 10 short legs a day which is much more difficult and has it's own set of issues. The body requires sleep and when you work on someone else's schedule the need for sleep and the time available do not always coincide.
Rgds
Ed