Jet Lag and How to Beat It

I’ve got the facts on jet lag and how to beat it. We found this in Forbes Traveler magazine.

• First, here are some of the symptoms of jet lag. It’s everything from dehydration to interrupted sleep, irritability, disorientation, lack of motivation and memory loss! Despite what you may have heard, the length of the flight has nothing to do with jet lag. It’s all about how many time zones you cross. That’s what throws off your body’s circadian rhythm, or internal clock because your circadian rhythm is what controls the release of the hormones that let you know when to eat, sleep and wake up.
• Chris Colwell is a psychiatry professor at UCLA Medical School and he says that rapid travel between time zones is the biggest culprit for jet lag because your body can only adjust gradually, a little each day. Like if you fly from New York to Madrid, you’re going through six time zones and if you travel from North America to Asia, it can take a couple of weeks to adjust!The worst is traveling East. Eastward travel is more difficult because it compresses days into shorter time periods. Westward travel is much easier to adjust to. To put it simply, it’s easier for us to delay our clock than to speed it up.
• So what can help? Exercise. If you want to delay sleep once you land, exercise. It’ll take a couple hours for your body temperature to drop to a level that makes you feel sleepy. Or exercise right after you wake up at a normal time in your new time zone. The sunlight and adrenaline from exercise will help you feel more alert.
• The worst things you can do? Drink on the plane. Alcohol dehydrates the body and increases symptoms of jet lag. If it’s daylight when you land, don’t hole yourself up in a dark hotel room and watch TV. Your body and brain will shut down. Do that, and it could take an entire week to adjust going from LA to New York.
• Also, do what NASA astronauts do to prepare for missions. They adjust their sleep schedule ahead of time. So a few days before you take off, edge your meals and bedtime closer to that of your destination.