Jet lag, that disruption of our internal body clocks every time we leave the comfort of our local time zone, is real. We all experience it, to a greater or lesser extent. Those of us who travel infrequently are hit harder than those of us who travel a lot.

But even seasoned travelers can be put off by the effects of jet lag.

So what is jet lag? As we move away from our local time zone, there is a noticeable change in the day-night cycle. As we travel east, the morning sunlight comes earlier and earlier (for us).

As we travel west, the days seem to lengthen and it takes “forever” for night to appear.

The truth is that when we travel east, we tend to want to sleep late and go to bed early.

The opposite is true for those of us who travel west.

This confusion between what our local clocks are showing us and what our internal clocks are telling us is what we call “Jet Lag”.

Jet lag is so prevalent that almost any travel book you pick up will have tips and panaceas for alleviating the effects of jet lag.

Why is it called “Jet Lag”?

Well, for one thing, if you’re traveling a long distance on foot, your body clock has time to adjust to the changing sunlight as you walk. The same is true for car travel and also, to a lesser extent, for train and boat travel.

But with the advent of Jet Airplane travel, your body clock is instantly overclocked.

Let’s say, for example, that you plan a trip to visit Disney World in Florida. You fly from Los Angeles, California to Orlando, Florida. Your planning was excellent and you arrive in Orlando at 4 PM (local time) in the afternoon. You arrive at your hotel and settle in and now it’s 6 pm

Time to dinner!

But you’re not hungry yet: After all, it’s only 3 pm in the afternoon in California!

The next morning, your hotel alarm goes off at 6 AM. It’s time to get up, get dressed, have breakfast and head out to Disney World. But your body screams in protest: “It’s only 3 in the morning! I want to SLEEP!”

Your vacation will be ruined unless you reset your internal clock.

But how?

Good news!

When I was traveling to the Orient more than now, we would always leave the United States around noon local time. When we arrived in Oriente, it was usually in the early afternoon (your local time).

The first thing we did when we settled into our hotel room was drink a large bottle of water (flying can be very dehydrating), close the room-darkening blinds, and go to bed. We slept until 6 am local time. This long period of sleep seemed to always reset our body clocks to local time.

Recent research(1) has shown that jet lag can be overcome, or at least its effects can be minimized, using a very simple technique.

According to that article, our internal clocks are in sync with the circadian rhythm of the Sun.

The authors’ recommendation is that, when we arrive at our destination, we spend at least 15 minutes in the sun with our eyes open. Then, force ourselves to follow the local eating schedule, no matter what our internal clocks say.

15 minutes of sunlight (or if we arrive at our destination at night, 15 minutes of ‘darkness’) tends to cause our watches to start a resynchronization reset: the special light receptors in our eyes apparently have only one function: They are not to allow us to see better, they are there to detect the sunlight falling on our retinas!

Go figure!

Something as simple as a bit of sunlight can have such a profound influence on our well-being!

Also, by forcing our eating habits to change, our bodies are flooded with nutrients at a time dictated by what (local time) our eyes are telling the body. This collaboration between the eye and the stomach seems to go a long way toward resetting our internal clocks to the local time zone and lessening the effects of that debilitating “Jet Lag”!

Cell phones.

Turn them off or place them upside down. Blue light from phones is distracting and will interfere with your body’s attempt to adjust. Even when you sleep!

References:

(1) Webb, A. & Herzog, E., 2017. Adapting your Body Clock to a 24-Hour Society. american scientistVolume 105: 348 -355