What is it
The expression “jet lag” indicates a set of disorders that affects those who, traveling by plane, quickly cross different time zones and undergo an alteration in the rhythm of wakefulness and sleep.
Causes
The functioning of the organism has a cycle of about 24 hours (circadian rhythm) and is synchronized on the alternation of darkness and light to which correspond not only sleep and wakefulness, but also cyclical changes in blood pressure, body temperature and the production of certain hormones.
Arriving for example at your destination in the early afternoon when according to the biological clock of the traveler, synchronized with the time of the place of departure, it should already be night, causes a sort of “lengthening” of the day for those who travel; The circadian rhythm thus undergoes a phase shift that causes disturbances and needs a few days to be resynchronized.
Most common symptoms
The most frequent symptoms of jet lag are insomnia and daytime sleepiness, to which can be added loss of appetite, irritability, sense of exhaustion and intestinal irregularity.
The remedies
The main countermeasure to be taken is to try to make sleep and wakefulness coincide as soon as possible with the night and day hours of the place where you have arrived.
If you arrive at your destination during the day it is good not to give in to sleep and wait for the night to go to sleep, allowing yourself at most a nap in case you could not do without it; If you arrive at night it is good to stay in the dark and try to fall asleep.
It is also useful to know that you have to pay attention to the direction of the flight: if you travel from east to west the adaptation is faster because the day “lengthens” for the traveler who will have to stay awake longer but will be helped in this by daylight and will then rest during the night.
If you travel from west to east, the adaptation will be more challenging because the day is “shortened” and it is more difficult to anticipate the night’s rest.
To encourage adaptation, it is also a good idea to avoid the intake of coffee and alcoholic beverages before and during the trip to try to be relaxed and thus help the body to get used to the biological rhythms required by the times of the place of destination.
It is also possible to help the body by changing its habits in the days before departure and “approaching” them to those of the place of destination, anticipating or postponing by one or two hours the times of meals and the beginning of the night’s rest.
Melatonin
A remedy adopted in recent years and sometimes recommended to minimize jet lag is the intake of melatonin, a hormone whose natural production is altered by the phase shift in the wake-sleep alternation.
Although its usefulness has not been definitively proven, experiments show that some people benefit from taking melatonin administered before bedtime for a few days starting with departure.
Joycelyn Elders is the author and creator of EmpowerEssence, a health and wellness blog. Elders is a respected public health advocate and pediatrician dedicated to promoting general health and well-being.
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