This year many thousands of people will be flying off to the four corners of the globe to lie on sun soaked tropical beach, to hike through some of world's most beautiful wilderness countryside, to see some of the architectural wonders of the world or to merely explore new countries and cultures. And, unhappily, hundreds of thousands of us will find that the first couple of days of our holiday will be lost trying to get over jet lag.
But is jet lag an inescapable part of long-haul travel?
The answer to this particular depends very much on where you are flying from and to. If you begin your journey in Adelaide, Australia and fly to Tokyo, Japan then you are not going to experience any jet lag at all because, despite the fact that you are traveling some 7,000 miles, your flight essentially takes you due north so that both your starting point and destination lie in the same time zone. However, if you travel from Adelaide to London, England then you will be flying east to west across ten standard time zones and will definitely suffer from jet lag.
Jet lag is really nothing more than the result of your internal body clock being out of step with local time and, although your body clock can naturally adjust itself to match the local time, any adjustment takes a bit of time.
If you are flying over just two or three time zones then the time difference will be small enough that you will probably not notice it greatly and your internal clock will adjust itself fairly fast. If however you travel over more than four time zones then the difference will be significant and your internal clock will take longer and longer to adjust as you travel across more and more time zones.
In our example of flying from Australia to London your body clock will take a few days to adjust and, in the meantime, you are likely to find that you suffer from insomnia, finding it difficult to fall asleep at night and to get up in the morning, feeling tired through the day, possibly experiencing problems with eating with stomach upsets, nausea, a feeling of dehydration, a headache, and a great deal more.
So exactly what can you do to fight jet lag?
There are several 'traditional' cures for jet lag including diets, formulas, over-the-counter medication, sleeping pills, melatonin and much more and each of these has both its followers and detractors, but do these so-called cures actually work?
In simple terms the answer to this question is no. These 'traditional' remedies do not work and, in many cases, will actually make your jet lag worse.
Treating jet lag is not a question of formulas and pills, but is a matter of devising a plan focusing on your particular travel plans and your lifestyle which helps your body's natural adjustment of its own body clock. This means taking a series of steps before your departure, as well as en-route and after your arrival at your destination. Sometimes these steps will be enough for you to avoid jet lag completely and, in others, they will certainly reduce the effects of jet lag greatly.
But is jet lag an inescapable part of long-haul travel?
The answer to this particular depends very much on where you are flying from and to. If you begin your journey in Adelaide, Australia and fly to Tokyo, Japan then you are not going to experience any jet lag at all because, despite the fact that you are traveling some 7,000 miles, your flight essentially takes you due north so that both your starting point and destination lie in the same time zone. However, if you travel from Adelaide to London, England then you will be flying east to west across ten standard time zones and will definitely suffer from jet lag.
Jet lag is really nothing more than the result of your internal body clock being out of step with local time and, although your body clock can naturally adjust itself to match the local time, any adjustment takes a bit of time.
If you are flying over just two or three time zones then the time difference will be small enough that you will probably not notice it greatly and your internal clock will adjust itself fairly fast. If however you travel over more than four time zones then the difference will be significant and your internal clock will take longer and longer to adjust as you travel across more and more time zones.
In our example of flying from Australia to London your body clock will take a few days to adjust and, in the meantime, you are likely to find that you suffer from insomnia, finding it difficult to fall asleep at night and to get up in the morning, feeling tired through the day, possibly experiencing problems with eating with stomach upsets, nausea, a feeling of dehydration, a headache, and a great deal more.
So exactly what can you do to fight jet lag?
There are several 'traditional' cures for jet lag including diets, formulas, over-the-counter medication, sleeping pills, melatonin and much more and each of these has both its followers and detractors, but do these so-called cures actually work?
In simple terms the answer to this question is no. These 'traditional' remedies do not work and, in many cases, will actually make your jet lag worse.
Treating jet lag is not a question of formulas and pills, but is a matter of devising a plan focusing on your particular travel plans and your lifestyle which helps your body's natural adjustment of its own body clock. This means taking a series of steps before your departure, as well as en-route and after your arrival at your destination. Sometimes these steps will be enough for you to avoid jet lag completely and, in others, they will certainly reduce the effects of jet lag greatly.
About the Author:
Help-Me-To-Sleep.com provides comprehensive advice on jet lag and also offers details of a specific jet lag treatment plan to follow before your departure, in flight and at your destination.
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