Don’t Lag Behind—How to Prevent and Treat Jet Lag

Do you ever feel like you are in two places at the same time? For people who travel frequently, the desire to go to bed in the middle of an overseas board meeting is, unfortunately, all-too-familiar. Sleeping and waking are not just habits that are easily changed; our sleeping and waking patterns are engraved in our biological makeup. Sleep is regulated by circadian rhythms in the brain which are disturbed after a long flight and by trying to adjust t to a new time zone.

There are more side-effects to jet lag than tiredness; a disrupted sleep pattern can reduce immunity to illness, which is of special concern to the air traveler, since airplane cabins are a haven for germs. Dry skin and nasal irritations are also consequences of jet lag, as well as dehydration, excessive hunger or loss of appetite.

Conventional wisdom dictates that a person suffering from jet lag needs a day to recover for every time zone he or she has passed. This means that, by the day you need to return from your overseas vacation or business trip, you might only have begun to recover from jet lag! Not to mention that your jet lag will be compounded by yet another overseas trip back home, which will require substantial recovery time. This means that a person traveling frequently for business might have a “sleep debt” which keeps piling up, accruing interest.

Is jet lag an inevitable part of the frequent traveler’s lifestyle? Are there any good cures for jet lag? The old saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” holds true when dealing with jet lag. Once you are jet lagged, it is very hard to adjust, and even if you are able to go to sleep and wake up on time, you will still be tired because of the sleep you missed. The following strategies are designed to help prevent jet lag before it happens, or at least, to ease its effects.