Every time before my summer or winter break ends, I always complain about taking a long-haul flight. It is just like a 16-hour Empire marathon in an aluminum tube. What’s worse, this exhausted and agonized feeling always stays with me in the next couple days. This feeling is called jet lag. I have to say, through all of my travelling experiences, one of the biggest issues that comes up every time I fly is dealing with jet lag. It is very disturbing as I feel so drowsy during the day but I can’t fall asleep at night. Beyond that, jet lag sometimes knocks me out, whereas other times I barely feel it. I can always get messed up by this sort of uncertainty. So I wrote this blog in hopes that by understanding more about jet lag, we all might find some tips for re-adjusting ourselves in our new time zone.
Why Are We Jet-lagged?
Jet lag occurs when you travel quickly across the different time zones. It can be asymptomatic if you are traveling between two time zones that have only a one or two-hour time difference; However, the more time zones you cross, the more likely you are going to have intense symptoms such as drowsiness and fatigue.
How Do We Cope With It?
Tip 1: Start Putting Yourself In The Time Zone Of Your Destination
I personally find this tip so helpful. Ideally, I will start shifting my inside body clock several days before my departure. That being said, if flying east, I tend to move my bedtime earlier, and if flying west, I move my bedtime later. When I am on the plane, I regularly check the destination time to decide what I should do next. If it’s daytime at my destination, I use the plane time for relaxing (e.g., watching movies) and working.
Tip 2: Arriving Earlier
Rapid travel can throw off our rhythm, disturb our biological clock, and make us all crazy. If you don’t think you can prepare to avoid jet lag before your departure or on the plane, you can cope with it after your arrival, but you need to make sure to arrive three or four days earlier than the start of your classes, work, and appointments. When you are in your destination place and start to adjust to your new time zone, try to avoid doing intense activities at night before bedtime. Even though the biological clock inside our body helps to control when we wake and fall asleep, cues such as light exposure, mealtimes, social engagement, and activities alter our external rhythm. So do less activities and dim the lights when you try to sleep during the night. Eating sensibly also is very important. For example, scientists recommend not eating a high carb or fatty diet close to bedtime as this can be disruptive to sleep. A bath could also ease you and prepare you for bed, as the drop in your body temperature when getting out of a bath may make you sleepy.
Tip 3: Other Sleep Help
If you still cannot adjust yourself in the new time zone using the above two tips, there are still a number of ways that can help shift our body’s internal rhythm toward our new time zone, such as sleeping pills, melatonin, and light therapy.
Nowadays, college students simply don’t get enough of sleep. There are many reasons for it, like adjusting in a new time zone, going out to have fun, cramming for exams, and etc. It seems that an occasional all-nighter is part of our college experiences. However, we should realize that poor quality/not enough sleep can cause many mental and physical problems that may show symptoms as we age. For more sleep tips and resources, you can click in Sleep Guide in Wellness Center at U of I.