Jet Lag - 8 Tips to Minimize Its
Effects
By Paula
Garrett
Whether you are flying for business or pleasure, jet lag can
seriously impair your performance and holiday fun for days.
Jet lag occurs when the body’s rhythms are out of sync with your
destination time – the body operates on a 24-hour cycle, and traveling
to a different time zone alters the body’s natural rhythm causing jet
lag. The more time zones you cross the worse it can be and traveling
east generally has a greater affect on jet lag than traveling west. It
is easier on the body’s biorhythms to add a few extra hours to the day,
as in traveling west, than reducing the number of hours in a day when
traveling east. The speed with which your body can realign itself to
your new time zone, adjusting its body rhythm to daylight, darkness,
eating and sleeping in the new time zone, affects the length of time you
experience jet lag for.
Jet lag can cause any or all of the following symptoms:
• Fatigue and lethargy
• Insomnia
• Disorientation
• Swollen hands and feet
• Headaches
• Digestive problems
• Irritability or anxiety
• Lack of concentration
• Loss of appetite and nausea
• Dehydration.
It is often thought that it takes a day to recover for each time zone
traveled through – this is great news for travellers on a week’s holiday
or a business traveller on a three day conference halfway across the
world!
So what can you do to minimize the affects of jet lag? The following
tips are designed to help you avoid the worst of jet lag and realign
your body clock as soon as possible.
1. Drink plenty of water, avoiding alcohol and caffeine. Water is
best but, if you find drinking large amounts of water difficult or just
plain boring, fruit juice and herbal teas will do.
2. If you are due to land in the morning at your destination, try to
sleep during the flight. Sleeping on board a plane in cramped conditions
isn’t easy but take off your shoes and try to get comfortable. Take an
eye mask and ear plugs with you to help block out cabin distractions and
a blow up neck rest should add to your comfort. Even if you are unable
to sleep throughout the flight, just try to rest, close your eyes and
try to ‘switch off’.
3. If you are due to land at night, try to stay awake throughout the
flight. Read a book, listen to some music but try to resist sleeping as
this will mean you will be unable to sleep destination time and take
longer for your body clock to adjust.
4. Set your watch to your destination time as soon as you get on the
plane and try to live by it straight away. Try to eat at times
appropriate to your destination time not departure time.
5. Some people reduce the impact of time zone changes by gradually
adapting their routine by an hour or so a few days before they travel.
By getting up an hour earlier or staying up later for a few days prior
to departure depending on their destination time.
6. If you arrive in the daytime, try to avoid the temptation to
sleep, get outside in the sunshine. Daylight, or any light, is a major
factor in resetting your internal clock. If you are exhausted and have
to sleep try to limit a nap to one hour – set an alarm clock or your
mobile phone to wake you.
7. If you arrive at night and don’t feel sleepy, try a warm bath and
a glass of warm milk – a natural sleep inducer.
8. Resist the urge to party all night for the first couple days and
get a couple of good nights’ sleep. This should help you get you adjust
your body clock to your destination time and make for a more enjoyable
stay.
There is no miracle cure for jet lag, but by following the above tips
you should minimize the effects of jet lag at your destination, and
don’t forget to use the above tips for your return too.
Paula Garrett is an experienced traveller and contributor to the
Gatwick meet and
greet parking service offering stress-free
valet parking at Gatwick
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paula_Garrett
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