JET LAG - Every Long Haul Travellers Nightmare

Jet lag is probably the reason behind many a lost first day in amy long haul travelers trip. A survey which was carried out by Conde Nast suggested that up to 93% of travelers suffers from jet lag to one extent or another following a long haul journey.

Jet lag which is also known as 'desynchronosis' is a physiological condition and results from rapid transmeridian travel or in other words crossing multiple time zones in a relatively short period of time. Jet lag is classified medically as a circadian rhythm sleep disorder.

Traveling across multiple time zones puts your internal body clock or biological clock out of synchronisation. Your body clock controls when you feel hungry, tired, digestion and hormonal levels among other things. It is what causes you to feel hungry in the morning and tired at night etc... When you arrive t a destination and it is morning when your body clock is expecting or used to it being night time then you will suffer from the results of Jet Lag. The world has twenty four time zones with the base being Greenwich Mean Time. The more time zones traveled through the worse the effects of jet lag can be. Generally speaking the results of jet lag can last anywhere from a couple of days to some people who do not experience any ill effects at all.

It has been suggested that the effects of jet lag are worse when you have travelled from West to East or where you have the equivalent of one whole night awake. For example if you travelled from London to Los Angeles.

Symptoms of jet lag can consist of:

-digestive complaints
-headaches
-fatigue
-insomnia
-grogginess
-irritability
-dizziness
-feeling down
-loss os appetite

The question had been raised as to whether the low air pressure in the aeroplane cabin can lead to reduced blood oxygen levels and therefore lead to jet lag like symptoms.

There are a few things that you can do to lower your chances of suffering from jet lag: Drink plenty of water when you are traveling and avoid alcohol, tea, coffee or highly sugared drinks try and get some healthy sleep beforehand if you are traveling at night so you arrive at your destination rested relax when you are traveling do something that you find relaxing, listen to music or read a favorite book change your watch to your destination's time as soon as you are on the aeroplane do not eat at all during your flight but eat your first meal when you arrive at your destination (BBC) When you reach your destination:
avoid napping spend some time out doors in the sunlight.