HEALTH AND FITNESS SPECIAL .................. Fight The Jet Lag

 Fight The Jet Lag

While everyone has their own mantra for tackling jet lag, here are some insights from the latest research and what experts feel needs to be done

If the medievals had seasickness, the moderns have jet lag. Business executives who make whistle-stop tours across time zones are all too familiar with the hazards of reduced alertness, sleeplessness, fatigue and digestive problems. Earlier considered a state of mind, jet lag is now acknowledged to have a biological basis. And it is serious enough for Nasa to have a fatigue-management team at the Johnson Space Center in Houston conducting cutting- edge research to develop strategies to deal with it.
 

Jet lag is especially problematic for business leaders as the reduced alertness hampers decision-making. After all, one does want to be on top of one’s game in a meeting important enough to fly across half the world for. To establish the harmful impact of jet lag on problem-solving skills, participants in a study at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital were placed on a schedule of a 28-hour day with six hours of sleep for three weeks to mirror the effects of jet lag. Unsurprisingly, productivity nosedived.

The Science Behind It

So what is the biological cause of jet lag? Our brain has a natural bio-clock that works on a 24-hour cycle. This is called the ‘circadian rhythm’ and it controls body temperature, appetite, hormone release and sleep patterns.
 

Our body clock is tuned to the environment using natural light, which lets our brain know what time it is. During long-haul travel, the cells in the brain’s ‘body clock’ become confused by change in light and act out of sync with each other. This leads to fatigue, sleeping trouble, digestive problems, headaches and irritability — or what we refer to as jet lag.
 

It is worse for movement from west to east since the body finds it harder to adapt to a shorter day than a longer one.
 

While knowing the science behind jet lag may make you more knowledgeable, it does not make it any easier to cope with. For that you need adaptive strategies. Not surprisingly, there are as many suggestions as there are travellers. So let’s see what the experts have to say.
 

“There is no one quick-fix,” says Steven Lockley, a neuroscientist who specialises in sleep medicine at Harvard University. How much a person is affected by jet lag depends on several factors such as the number of hours you’re ahead or behind, the time of day you leave, and the direction of travel. The rule of thumb is that it takes about a day to adjust for each time zone you cross.

Stay In The Zone

The most common advice is to establish a new routine so that you eat and sleep according to the time zone you’re in. “Try to adjust your clock even before you take that flight,” advises Lockley. If you are flying west, you need to delay your system, so go to bed later than normal for a few days before your trip and earlier if you are flying east. Of course, that doesn’t mean you go to bed at 3 am instead of your usual 11 pm. Just adjusting your daily schedule by 15-20 minutes for a week before your departure should do the trick. Similarly, you need to change your meal timings to help with jet lag-induced indigestion.
 

Exposure to natural light is a crucial factor in making the body decide when it’s time to sleep. This is because the production of melatonin, a naturally occurring hormone that helps regulate  the sleep-wake cycle, is controlled by light exposure. Ideally, the brain should secrete more in the evening, when it’s dark, to make you sleepy, and less during the day. Research has shown that experiencing light during the evening causes a delay in our body clock while exposure to light in the morning advances it.
 

Now scientists at the Queen Mary College at the University of London have discovered that human biological clocks are driven not only by light but also by changes in body heat. So if you want to sleep, put on some extra layers, sip a hot drink or simply turn on the heater. Alternatively, if you’ve visited a cold country and return to India during the summer, having a cold bath or turning on the air-conditioner could make you feel better. 

Change Your Sleep Pattern If it’s going to be daylight when you land, sleep on the flight so that you stay awake at the destination till night. And if you are going to land at night, stay awake in the aircraft Stop Before You Go  Including a stopover on your flight will make it easier to adjust to the time change, and you’ll be less tired when you arrive Stay Hydrated Dehydration can intensify the effects of jet lag, especially after sitting in a dry aircraft cabin for many hours. Avoid alcoholic and caffeinated drinks (such as coffee, tea and cola), which can disturb sleep. Preparing For Shuteye Eyeshades, earplugs and soothing music can help you sleep. Try to get as much sleep in a 24-hour cycle as you can. A minimum block of four hours’ sleep during the local night is necessary to adapt to a new time zone. Make up the total sleep time by taking naps during the day Natural Light  The cycle of light and dark is one of the most important factors in setting the body’s internal clock. Exposure to daylight at the destination will usually help you adapt to the new time zone faster.

So if you want to hit the ground running when you take a flight to the other side of the world, be prepared and you won’t have to pay nature’s levy for travel.
  Smita Tripathi BW130823 (This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 26-08-2013) 

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