What is Jet Lag?

What is Jet Lag? Jet lag is a short-term body condition that causes insomnia and tiredness, among other symptoms due to air transport through different time zones.
What is Jet Lag?
The disorder is the result of the change in daily regularity due to long-distance travel. For example, if a person travels from London to New York, it would feel as if five hours had elapsed more than local time.
A person may experience a time lag for many days before fully adjusting to the new time zone. Many airline pilots, frequent travelers and flight crews are victims of the time lag, and airline regulations about time lags are there to help combat pilot fatigue resulting from the time lag. 
In addition, a suggested guide for the recovery of this condition establishes that a period of 24 hours is sufficient for the recovery of each time zone that the traveler crosses. 
Therefore, if a person passes three time zones, then a recovery period of three days will be necessary before the traveler adjusts to the time.
Cause
The main cause of the time lag is the inability of a person's body to adjust to time in another area as soon as it lands there. The body clock would normally be out of sync when a person travels through several time zones. 
Mainly, the body would experience the daylight and darkness that it had not become accustomed to, causing its natural pattern to alter. 
The reason behind the discomfort is that the rhythms that generally dictate the time to sleep, meals, variations in body temperature, the regulation of hormones and other bodily functions would lose correspondence with the environment. 
Therefore, the body reaches a point where it cannot cope with the immediate environment.
An individual's body and the direction of travel determine the speed at which that body would adjust to the new schedule. Some people would experience minor interruptions due to the change in time zones, while others would need several days to recover from the time lag. 
It is important to note that the crossing of the international date line is not a contributing factor to the time lag by itself, since the measurement of the time lag is based on the number of time zones a traveler crosses. 
The maximum possible time is about twelve hours, and in cases where the time difference between two zones exceeds twelve hours, the difference must be subtracted from 24.
Web forms management
The best way to control the time lag is careful and controlled exposure and avoidance to bright eye light. The light stimulates a person's readjustment to the sleep-wake program. 
It is an essential requirement that eliminates the hormone melatonin, which is produced in darkness and dim light. Therefore, timed exposure to light is the most effective method to match the circadian rhythm of travelers with the anticipated progression at their last stop. 
Another way to control jet lag is short-acting sleep medication, which improves sleep quality. In addition, meal planning and exercise can be practical approaches to managing jet lag.
How to know if you suffer from jet lag?
If you have taken a plane and have crossed several time zones and you have any - or several - of these symptoms, you may be under the effects of jet lag:
  • Fatigue or exhaustion 
  • Insomnia 
  • Headache 
  • Apathy 
  • Irritability 
  • Digestive problems

How long is the jet lag?
Although it depends on each person, as a general rule you will feel better between the second and the fifth day, but it can get a little longer if you have gone through many time zones.
What can I do to reduce the effects?
Although it is not possible to avoid jet lag, if you can minimize the effects and synchronize to the new schedule as quickly as possible by following some tips:
BEFORE FLYING
- Get some exercise
- Follow a healthy diet
-  Get plenty of rest the days before the trip 
-  Change your routine slightly the weeks before the trip. Lie down and get up an hour earlier if you are traveling east, or an hour later if you are traveling west
DURING THE TRIP
- Drink plenty of water and avoid alcohol and caffeine intake 
-  Avoid taking sleeping pills , as they could make the jet lag worse 
-  Move your legs and neck while sitting on the plane 
-  Adjust the hours of sleep on the plane to match With the destination time. Many airlines have incorporated in their flights lights that help with the time transition 
- When you get on the plane, update your watch to the destination time zone. If you arrive in the afternoon, do not sleep much on the plane to be tired when you arrive at your destination. But if your flight will arrive in the morning or at dawn try to sleep throughout the flight to be awake and active the rest of the day.
UPON ARRIVAL AT THE DESTINATION
- Adapt to local time (if you arrive at 8am at a destination but for you it is 3 in the morning, try not to sleep until night) 
-  Do not take heavy meals during the first day 
- If you arrive during the day try to leave at street , so that you get the sun since it is a stimulant to regulate the biological clock.
There is no medicine to make symptoms disappear, but some doctors prescribe melatonin when someone will cross more than 6 time zones. Do not self-medicate, consult your doctor!

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