Prevention And Jet Lag Cures
July 22, 2008
While, its always fun to jet off across international time zones to distant locations for an exciting vacation, jet lag is common when crossing different time zones. A common phenomena, it can be avoided with the right kind of preventive measures. At the end of a long flight across different international time zones, jet lag sets in causing disorientation, headaches, fatigue, sinus problems and worse.
Explaining Jet Lag
Jet lag can be one of the worst, and certainly one of the most frustrating, aspects of long distance travel. It occurs when travellers pass through multiple time zones, arriving several hours ahead or behind their home time.
Travelling across several time zones upsets the body’s internal clock, which relies on a variety of environmental cues such as daylight and temperature. The degree of jet lag suffered can be measured in terms of the time change you undergo - the greater the difference in time between your home and your new location, the more disoriented your body clock becomes and the more jet lag you are likely to experience.
Clinically speaking, jet lag is the outcome of the changes in your circadian rhythm i.e. sleep schedule or pattern. Everyone has their own specific sleep and waking up patterns. Crossing over different time zones upsets your sleep pattern and the time it takes your brain to adjust to the new schedule is called jet lag. While, it is not a physical phenomenon, jet lag does have a psychological effect on us.
Symptoms of Jet Lag Suffering
Jet lag is easily identified with feeling tired on arriving at one’s new destination. One feels groggy and disorientated, has difficulty concentrating on anything and has erratic sleep patterns. One has difficulty sleeping at night, while experiencing an overpowering urge to take frequent naps during the day. As well, the sealed in aircraft has dry, stale air circulating which results in dehydration if one is not careful.
One major feature of jet lag is the body’s struggle between emotional energy and physical lethargy. While, the mind is able to process the change in time and location relatively quickly, the body is much slower to respond. Although, the time to recover varies from person to person, most people agree that overcoming jet lag, adjusting to a new time zone and resuming a regular sleep cycle can take two or three days or, in severe cases, an entire a week. Though not necessarily serious, insomnia caused by jet lag can interfere with mental clarity and efficiency and may have some bearing on your emotional state.
Jet Lag Prevention Measures
There are many ways one can reduce and overcome the effects of jet lag. For example, take night flights, so that you can sleep on flight, or else your arrival time at your destination should be at night, so you can head straight to bed. Make a decided effort to adjust quickly to meal and sleep times prevailing in the new time zone.
Natural sleep remedies and approaches can be used to effectively manage jet lag, significantly decreasing or limiting the severity and number of symptoms, including shortening the duration of jet lag. Establish a regular and consistent sleep schedule before starting to make travel plans. Try adjusting to your destination’s time zone, even before you beginning your journey by going to sleep and getting up as per the time zone of your destination. This way, you will have prepared your body to adjust to the changes.
Catch as much sleep as you can on the plane, take a nap rather than watching movies or chatting with friends. It will make you feel fresh and alert on landing at your new destination. Avoid heavy food before and during the journey. Limit coffee and alcohol intake which tent to worsen jet lag. Instead, drink as much juice and water as you can to combat dehydration caused by dry air circulating inside the aircraft.
Sleeping pills and other sleep aids are also effective tools for managing jet lag. However, because these pills suppress the body’s immune system in order to generate artificial sleep, sleeping pills are not always an effective remedy for jet lag. In fact, they can worsen jet lag symptoms by delaying the adjustment of your internal body clock. Other pills, such as, Melatonin are made from a substance that is naturally produced by the human body during the night. It helps to reset the body’s internal clock and if taken in the morning, it helps you to stay up much longer. At night it encourages and induces sleep.
Take preventative measures and you will be one traveller who is not afraid to cross international time zones on a regular basis!
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