Sunshine to meal times: How to beat jet lag
With bags packed and boarding passes at the ready, what can you do to keep your body clock on track?
Jet lag is the result of abrupt changes to local time that leave our internal biological clocks out of sync with our environment. Researcher Dr Nina Rzechorzek explains that while our bodies initially align with home time after long flights, the mismatch between internal and external time can cause sleep disturbances, daytime fatigue, poor concentration, irritability, reduced performance and digestive issues.
Our circadian rhythms, or internal body clocks, help regulate daily cycles in cell activity. These clocks are set by environmental cues, with sunlight and darkness playing a major role. When we travel across time zones, it takes several days for our master clock in the brain to adjust to the new daily cycle, leading to jet lag.
The direction of travel matters too, with eastward journeys typically more challenging due to our bodies' natural tendency to delay our internal clock. While there's no guaranteed cure, there are ways to mitigate jet lag symptoms. Light exposure in the morning can advance the clock, while evening light can delay it. Getting regular exercise during the day can also help reinforce your new time zone.
Eating meals during the day and avoiding food at night can promote better sleep, as can using sleep aids like melatonin when prescribed by a healthcare professional. Establishing good sleep hygiene, such as keeping lights low before bed, ensuring a dark and cool room, and following a bedtime routine, can also help.
Written by urgent.news from BBC News's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
