The symptoms of jet lag can have a lasting, detrimental effect on your holiday, and the increase inside long-haul flying means too many and too many travellers are affected.
The body operates on a 24-hour cycle and Jet lag occurs when the body’s rhythms are out of sync w/ your destination time. The too many time zones you cross the worse it can be. Travelling east does have a greater affect on jet lag than travelling west - it is easier on the body’s biorhythms to add a few extra hours to the day, while inside travelling west, than reducing the number of hours inside a day when travelling east.
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.
The speed w/ which your body can realign itself to your new time zone, adjusting its body rhythm to daylight, darkness, eating and sleeping inside the new time zone, affects the length of time you experience jet lag for. It is often thought that it takes a day to recover for each time zone travelled through - that is great news for travellers on a week’s holiday or a business traveller on a 3 day conference halfway across the world!
So what can you do to minimise the affects of jet lag? The following tips are designed to help you avoid the worst of jet lag and realign your body clock while soon while possible.
1.Drink plenty of water, avoiding alcohol and caffeine. Water is supreme but, if you find drinking large amounts of water difficult or just plain boring, fruit juice and herbal teas will do. 2.If you’re due to land inside the morning @ your destination, try to sleep during the flight. Sleeping on board a plane inside cramped conditions isn’t easy but handle off your shoes and try to have comfortable. An eye mask and ear plugs w/ help block out cabin distractions and a blow up neck rest should add to your comfort. Even if you’re unable to sleep throughout the flight, just try to rest, close your eyes and try to ’switch off’. 3.If you’re due to land @ night, try to stay awake throughout the flight. Read a book, listen to sum music but try to resist sleeping while that will mean you’ll become unable to sleep destination time and handle longer for your body clock to adjust. 4.Set your eye to your destination time while soon while you have on the plane and try to live from it straight away. Try to eat @ times appropriate to your destination time not departure time. 5.Sum people reduce the impact of time zone changes from gradually adapting their routine from an hour or so a few days before they travel. By having up an hour earlier or staying up later for a few days prior to departure depending on their destination time. 6.If you arrive inside the daytime, try to avoid the temptation to sleep, have outside inside the sunshine - daylight, or any light, is a major factor inside resetting your internal clock. If you’re exhausted and have to sleep try to limit a nap to 1 hour - set an alarm clock or your mobile phone to wake u. 7.If you arrive @ evening and do not feel sleepy, try a warm bath and a glass of warm milk - a natural sleep inducer. 8.Resist the urge to party all evening for the first couple days and have a couple of great nights’ sleep. This should help you adjust your body clock to your destination time and make for a too many enjoyable stay.
There is no miracle cure for jet lag, but from following the above tips you should minimise its effects.
About the Author
Paula Garrett is a contributor to the Glasgow airport information website which offers up-to-date travel information, advice and further health tips for air travellers. www.glasgowairportflightarrivals.co.uk/…