If you’ve ever experienced jet lag, you know it’s one of those things that makes you feel somewhere between being awake and asleep.
Whether you’re traveling for business or pleasure, experiencing an entirely new place can be life-changing, but it does come with some drawbacks.
Namely, if you’re going anywhere with a 3-hour time difference to your point of origin, you’re going to experience some amount of jet lag.
Between the exhaustion, fatigue, and indigestion issues that are commonly related to this phenomenon, it’s not uncommon to have the first couple of days of your trip feel sub-optimal.
This is even more evident if you’re traveling somewhere for the holidays, as what little time you’ve got to rest and take a break from work will feel as if it’d been wasted.
Fret not, because we’ve got just the thing for you, and we’ll be exploring what causes jet lag, and what you can do to fight off these symptoms.
Our sleep cycle is mainly controlled by the light that enters through the retina, letting our brain know whether it’s day or night.
With the way time zones work though, sometimes you’ll end up losing or gaining at least a few hours when traveling by plane, and this can mess with your circadian rhythm.
Your hormones become imbalanced and your body no longer knows when it’s time to rest and when you’re supposed to seize the day.
This leads to an overall feeling of irritability that eventually affects your appetite, emotions, and cognitive abilities.
Thankfully, a lot of time has been put into researching the Time zone change syndrome, making way for sleep coaches to help regular travelers combat the symptoms of jet lag.
Control light exposure
As long as you’ve got a good idea of where and when you’re traveling, you can work out just how much of a time difference you’re going to be experiencing.
Take into account that it takes about a day and a half to shift your circadian clock by one hour.
With some careful planning and management of your external light sources, you can offset some of the impact time zone change will have on your body, and while the results may not be perfect, you’ll notice a difference.
For example, if you’re traveling from New York to Los Angeles, you’ll fly across three entire time zones, meaning that you should start adjusting 2-3 days ahead of time.
This means that if you’re traveling east to west, you should start waking up later and going to sleep a couple of hours later as well, preferably with a source of blue light to stay awake for longer.
A simple, blue light box can be purchased for as little as $40, and 30 minutes to an hour of exposure before bedtime can improve your progress when it comes to adjusting your circadian rhythm.
If you’re travelling west to east though, just do the opposite.
Adjust your plane experience
Prepping at home is important, but long flights will require you to spend upwards of 7 hours on the plane sometimes, and maintaining your sleep schedule is crucial.
Bring an eye mask and a smaller blue-light device to sync your internal clock with your destination’s time zone.
Naturally, if it’s daytime where you’re headed, you’ll want to have as much exposure to natural light as possible, but in times of need, a phone or tablet will suffice, so long as your eyes are occupied.
By controlling your sleep schedule this way, you’ll be well-rested when you arrive at your destination, allowing you to either doze off in the hotel as soon as you arrive or make as much of your day as possible if your flight landed during the day.
Lower your stress levels
Even if you didn’t manage to fight off all the symptoms of jet lag, there are still some things you can do after the flight to help salvage your trip.
Light scheduling apps are all the rage with frequent flyers these days, and a more popular one is Timeshifter.
With this app, all the time zone calculations will no longer be your responsibility, and all you’ll have to do is enter your current location and the place you’re headed to.
Apart from controlling your light exposure, Timeshifter will also provide you with the optimal times for sleep and caffeine intake.
Keeping your stress levels at an all-time low is mandatory because you won’t be getting any sleep as long as your adrenal gland is secreting cortisol.
This can be tough, especially if it’s a business trip, but as long as you’re trying to keep things fairly relaxed, you’re doing a great job.
Food and drinks
There’s also the issue of alcohol and caffeine intake, both of which are substances that have a strong impact on your sleep schedule.
It doesn’t help that most alcoholic beverages are packed with sugars, which often lead to fatigue once the sugar spike dies down.
Instead of overloading with coffee, energy drinks, and other sugary foods, choose to drink a lot of water, especially during the flight, even if it means making several trips to the bathroom.
Being dehydrated can make it hard to adapt to the time change once your flight lands, so keep water and electrolyte packets on your person at all times, you never know when you’ll need them.
Afterword
Your ability to adjust to time zone changes can make or break your travel plans, and it’s up to you to find the best way to keep your circadian rhythm in sync with your destination.
Find what works best for you and your family and implement it whenever you’re traveling across more than two time zones.
Three hours doesn’t sound like a lot on paper, but losing three hours of sleep is something we’re all more than familiar with, and it’s not pretty.
Nothing is more valuable than time, and even a couple of hours out of your vacation will feel devastating when you know you could’ve enjoyed it stress-free and well-rested.