Circadian Rhythms: How to overcome Jet Lag

Besides from a medical or psychological interest in circadian rhythms, another good application of the knowledge goes to overcoming jet lag.

(The plane picture comes from here.)

Let's say you travel to a place which has a time lag of an hour or more with where you live. You will probably experience jet lag. A set of syndromes from an inability to fall asleep or wake up when it's appropriate to fatigue, a blue mood, and a slight loss of memory.

To readjust your body clock to the new time, it takes on average one day per hour of time lag. So, if there is only one hour or two of time lag, it is probably not such a big deal. Your body will adjust itself in a day or two.

If, however, the time lag is of 5 hours, 10 hours or more, a full week or more without adequate sleep can take a toll on your body, and not be such a pleasant experience. (Specially if your vacation only lasts a week, and you have to go back after 7 days.... another week to get readjusted --> that gives at least 2 weeks without adequate sleep!)

What can you do to speed up the process??

There are two mechanisms that control your circadian rhythm: sunlight and food.

Here, I am only give you a step-by-step procedure. (If you are interested in how sunlight and food act together in controlling the body's biological clock, read the next article I am going to post.)

1. Some people recommend "getting used" to the new time before you take the plane. This is probably a bad idea! You are just going to make your body more tired and mess up you sleep pattern earlier than it should be. No, before your trip make sure you sleep well and are well relaxed and full of energy. You want to be able to be as healthy as possible on arrival.

2. This might be the hardest part, specially if you are on a 12 hour flight or more, but it is the most important! I'm serious. Do Not Eat Anything in the Plane!! The hunger and fast will kinda "reset your biological clock to 0." Afterwards, your "eating" clock will adjust to the time of the first meal you take.

3. If you can sleep in the plane, great! If you can't, just close your eyes and try to "keep in the dark." We also want the "sunlight clock" to be reset to 0.

4. Drink more water than usual in the plane. There is inherent stress with traveling, and the AC environment is pretty dry. So just drink plenty of water to keep yourself hydrated, and help your body get read of the stress' toxicity.

5. When you arrive at destination, follow the local rhythm right away. Do not sleep if it is day time, and only eat your first meal at the right time. (but don't eat breakfast if it's the afternoon, or vice versa. Eat a "real," full, local time, meal.)

6. If you really can't stay awake, take a 15~20 min nap... as many as you need, but make sure to stay awake at least one hour and a half between each nap.

This is for the "travel time" part of adjusting to jet lag. If you are still having some problems falling asleep at night, there are some other tricks you can do. Please come back to this blog and read the following posts.