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jet
by Regina Patrick, RPSGT, RST
Your winter holiday vacation is perfectly planned. One thing you may not plan for is one of these two scenarios:
1. You flew across several time zones from west to east. By evening, the family and friends you are visiting are getting sleepy, but you’re still raring to go. The next morning when family and friends are awakening to start their day, you struggle to wake up and join them.
2. You flew across several time zones from east to west. By evening, the family and friends you are visiting are getting sleepy, but you have long been asleep. The next day, way before your family and friends awaken to start their day, you are awake and cannot go back to sleep.
Both scenarios are caused by jet lag, the symptoms of which are trouble falling asleep (after traveling west to east), awakening early (after traveling east to west), trouble staying asleep, fatigue, extreme daytime sleepiness, irritability, and physical symptoms such as headache, nausea, dizziness, and digestive problems (e.g., indigestion).
Jet lag occurs because traveling across several time zones within a few hours does not allow enough time for your body’s circadian rhythm (commonly called “the biological clock”) to become synchronized to the new time zone. Symptoms only last a few days but can ruin a vacation.
Jet lag is worse when traveling from west to east (e.g., from Hawaii to Florida). Much like “losing” an hour of sleep when shifting to daylight-saving time because of the advance in time, when a person travels from west to east, sleep is “lost” because time in the east is advanced. For example, at 9:00 p.m. Florida time (which is 4:00 p.m. Hawaii time), you would still be alert and have difficulty going to sleep. However, at 9:00 a.m. the next morning (i.e., 4:00 a.m. Hawaii time), while others have awakened for the day, you still want to sleep.
When you travel from east to west (e.g., from Florida to Hawaii), at 9:00 p.m. Hawaii time (i.e., 2:00 a.m. Florida time), others are just going to sleep, but you have long been asleep. At 9:00 a.m. the next morning (i.e., 2:00 p.m. Florida time), others have awakened for the day but you have long been awake, unable to go to sleep since the early hours of the morning.
Such mismatches in sleep/wake times can thwart plans to be with your family and friends during your vacation. However, jet lag does not have to ruin your holiday vacation. The following tips can help you avoid jet lag for the holidays:
If you arrive to your destination during daytime, expose yourself to as much sun as possible to help your biological rhythms adapt more quickly to the destination time zone.
Schedule a flight to arrive at your destination close to the time you normally wake up in your home time zone (e.g., if your wake time in Florida is 7:00 a.m., schedule a flight that will arrive in Hawaii at 2:00 a.m. Hawaii time).
Days before your vacation, incrementally shift (e.g., by 15 minutes) your bedtime and mealtimes earlier (east-to-west flights) or later (west-to-east flight) each day to help shift these rhythms closer to the local time of your destination.
Avoid napping. Napping can further throw off your sleep/wake schedule and make jet lag last longer.
Drink plenty of water while flying. Low air humidity in an airplane can cause dehydration, which can worsen jet lag.
Eat small meals to avoid digestive problems.
Regina Patrick, RPSGT, RST, is a freelance writer/editor and a registered sleep technologist. She has been involved in the sleep field for more than 30 years.
