Introduction
Have you ever travelled long distances by plane and when you got off at your destination you had trouble sleeping properly?
Did you wake up at strange hours and found yourself being energetic in the middle of the night?
This is because you were affected by jet lag. Which is your body trying to adjust its sleeping cycle to the new time zone that you have entered.
What is Jet Lag?
Jet lag is a physiological condition that results from the drastic change to the natural circadian rhythm due to the crossing of time zones through rapid travel.
Simply put when you get into a plane and fly from New York to Australia you will go through a number of time zones.
This, in turn, will disrupt your natural sleeping cycle and in doing so your body will need time to adjust to the changes.
How long does Jet Lag last?
There are many factors which affect the time it takes to get over jet lag.
These include your health, food, previous sleeping patterns, the difference in time zones from your original and final destination, your nighttime routines and so on.
In most cases, your body will require a few days to adjust to the new time zone and reset its natural circadian rhythm.
In the meantime, you can experience waking up throughout the night and being quite tired during the day.
But due to many studies being done on the subject there are many things you can do to reduce the time you need to adjust.
How to beat Jet Lag
Beating Jet Lag is quite a complicated process but there are 4 main and simple things you can do to help overcome jet lag and those are:
- Light – Artificial light disrupts the body’s circadian rhythm—the body’s 24-hour sleep/wake cycle—and has been shown to affect things like brain wave patterns, hormone production, and cell regulation.
Disrupting this circadian rhythm has also been linked to medical issues like depression, obesity, breast and prostate cancer, and cardiovascular disease.
It’s even associated with sleep disorders like insomnia possibly because it causes the suppression of Melatonin, a sleep-inducing hormone. Source: sleep.orgBy reducing the amount of light exposure, especially blue light which you can get from screens, mobiles and laptops you increase the melatonin production.
In doing so helping you fall asleep.
Try not using any screen for more than 30 min before going to sleep and use eyeshades while sleeping to cut out any light that might affect your sleep.
- Melatonin – Melatonin is a hormone that regulates the sleep-wake cycle. It is primarily released by the pineal gland. As a supplement, it is often used for the short-term treatment of trouble sleeping such as from jet lag or shift work.
Source: Wikipedia.org
Consider taking a few melatonin supplements before going to sleep to induce your sleep. - Coffee – Coffee takes about 20 min from the time you ingest it to awaken your body and has a lasting effect of between 6 and 8 hours.
Make sure not to drink coffee prior to or during your flight to assist you with having a nap while on the plane.
Afterwards prior to landing have a coffee to awaken you and keep you awake till later in the day.
The best way to overcome Jet lag is to shift your body clock to the new destination as quickly as possible.
By staying up till about 10 pm you are able to get a full nights rest and your body will awaken in the morning feeling more energetic.
This, in turn, will help you stay up longer during the day, in the end, help you adjust to the new time zone much quicker
- Napping – The average sleep cycle is 90 min and most people have 4-5 sleep cycles per night.
The sleep cycle consists of light sleep, deep sleep and REM ( Rapid Eye Movement).
In the diagram below you can see how during the night your sleep cycle changes from a predominantly deep sleep cycle to a later REM predominant cycle.
This turns out to be because at the beginning of your sleep your body works on repairing physically, and later in the night, it focuses on mentally restoring the body.
If you do decide to nap to restore the energy you should not nap for more than 25 min.
If you do you might end up feeling more tired as you would have started falling into a deeper sleep.
This will affect you more and in some cases even prolong recovery from Jet Lag.
How to improve your sleep on planes
Seat Selection
One thing that you can definitely look forward to while flying on a plane is a cramped space with not too much legroom.
That is unless you decide to take Business or First class but for most people, this isn’t an option just yet.
So to increase your legroom potential you can check out a website called Seatguru.
Here you will just have to type in the information about your flight and quickly you will get a visual representation of which is the best and worst seats on the plane.
This can be quite useful as you will be able to stretch that tiny bit further that could really make a difference to your sleep on the plane.
Sleep Kit
A great way to increase your sleeping comfort is to take on board with you a sleeping kit.
Inside of the sleeping kit you have things that will improve your sleeping, either by reducing the light, reducing the noise or providing comfort for your head.
Here is a list of my personal favourites:
- Eyeshades
- Earplugs
- Travel pillow
- Blanket
- Earphones/Noise-cancelling Headphones
- Relaxing music
- Mediation apps for your phone
- Toothbrush + Toothpaste
- Hairbrush
Simple tips to help with Jet Lag
- Select a flight that allows an early evening arrival and stay up until 10 pm local time.
- If you follow the previous tip then make sure to nap at the beginning of your flight not at the end of your flight
- In some instances, it might be better the stay up throughout the whole trip.
- If you must sleep during the day of arrival take a short 25 min or less nap unless you can fit in a full 90 min sleep cycle.
- If you can anticipate the time change prior to the flight you can move your bedtime either earlier or later by about 15-20 mins every night
- upon boarding the plane, reset your watch to the new time zone and frequently look at it to give your brain a trigger to where you are going and where you want to be
- Avoid heavy meals on the flight. The trolley cart food is heavy and does not assist with adjusting your body. Either bring your own food or ask for light meal options
- Sit by the window so that when you are arriving at your destination you can open the window and start receiving sunlight which will reduce the amount of melatonin produced by the pineal gland.
- Use a lightbox or look at your phone to reduce the amount of melatonin production
- Diets don’t have an effect on jet lag but being healthy does
- Once you arrive at your hotel you can ask if the hotel has a sleep program. The hotel could provide you with a selection of different pillows, quiet floors and more.
- Call the hotel you are staying at and ask to see if you can reserve a quiet room
- Get a room that faces the west. This is because it’s facing away from the sunrise which can creep in through the windows and wake you up prematurely.
- Have eyeshades and earplugs
Sleeping apps on your phone
Jet Lag Apps
There seems to be an app for everything these days and off course, there is an app for Jet Lag.
The apps below will help you start a travel plan to assist you with adjusting to the new time zone you will be entering.
Solar Clock: Circadian Rhythm
Solar Clock: Circadian Rhythm syncs the Solar time with your Local time and shows important events based on Circadian rhythm.
Conclusion
With travelling becoming a more attainable thing for everyone it seems like looking more into jet lag would have some merit in the long run.
I personally don’t struggle much with Jet lag and I can put it down to the food I eat, which is plant-based and easily digestible, staying awake as long as possible on the flight and after I arrive at my destination and allowing myself to have a long sleep from 10 pm till the when I wake normally.
This is something that I worked out on my own over the many years of travel and it doesn’t necessarily mean it will work for you.
So I would recommend testing out different things and see what works with you the best in the long run.
If you are a seasoned traveller and have ways of combating jet lag let me know in the comments below and if you got anything from this article please consider sharing it with others.
