How to Avoid Jet Lag
Jet lag is a much maligned and misunderstood concept. In medical terms it is called the upset of your circadian (around 24 hours) or diurnal (daytime) rhythms. To the layman this means that your body becomes disorientated as you fly through different time zones. It has been estimated that for every time zone you pass through you will need one day to adjust fully. So if you pass through six time zones it will take you six days to adapt. Westwards travel is usually not as bad as eastwards but it can still have a marked effect.
Jet lag is a very real condition and not a figment of the travel world's imagination. The general symptoms are:
- disorientation
- fatigue
- disrupted sleeping patterns
- disrupted eating patterns
- impaired physical and mental performance.
There is no simple solution for jet lag - except to let your body readjust in its own time. For businessmen and the like this can be a problem, but for travellers with more time on their hands it is worth taking it easy for a few days and coming to terms naturally with the change in your body time. There are weird and wonderful inventions available to combat jet lag, such as Bioclocks which tell you if you should be wearing sunglasses or not, but in this case patience is definitely a virtue.
