The concept of jet lag means to disrupt the body’s biological rhythm because air travel across time zones is associated with psychological and physiological changes that result from these rapid movements across time zones.

Symptoms are mainly due to the disruption of circadian rhythms and sleep cycles.

Jet lag and other ‘time shifting’ such as shift work reduce mental performance and increase the risk of medical problems, including cancer, digestive problems, peptic ulcers and sleep disorders. These serious problems take many years of constant time shifting to develop.

Long range air travel disrupts the circadian rhythms of behavior and physiology, basically upsetting our “internal clock”. The mechanisms that underlie the internal clock have evolved over millions of years, but only in the last century have we had to deal with high speed travel that upsets the body’s rhythm.

The circadian rhythm influences many body functions like body temperature, blood pressure, urine and hormone production and distribution. The internal clock is flexible adjusting to changing seasons and so on, but it can not cope with rapid movements in time brought about by jet travel.

Jet Lag Symptoms

Symptoms usually occur with a time difference of more than 5 hours. Passengers will perceive their symptoms at very different levels. There are indications that the problem increases with age. The normalisation of circadian rhythm for flights going eastwards is generally more difficult than for flights going west.

The most common symptoms of jet lag are sleep disorders, fatigue, mental confusion, anorexia and gastro-intestinal complaints. They usually totally disappear after a few days, although measurable parameters such as sleep, body temperature and hormone status often take up to 14 days to completely adjust.

Jet lag syndrome reduces the capacity for normal physical, cognitive and manual abilities.

Prevention and treatment of jet lag

A sufficient fluid intake during the flight to prevent dehydration can be very helpful in producing a feeling of well-being after the flight, regardless of jet lag syndrome. Alcohol is believed to have the exact opposite effect increasing the jet lag “hangover’ feeling.

Also the timing of food intake and the composition of the food can have an influence. If you are staying in your new time zone for any length of time more than a few days then every attempt should be made to fall into line with your new time zone as quickly as possible.

This would include shifting sleep patterns as rapidly as you can; staying up several hours later than your usual sleep time to fall into line with local time is far preferable to going to sleep at three in the afternoon and then waking up at midnight local time.

Eating at your new local time is also important to avoid being hungry in the middle of the night when food may not be available. Large amounts of non alcoholic drinks will keep away the dehydrating effects that are vastly increased by jet lag.

The material is in no way intended to replace professional medical care or attention by a qualified practitioner. The materials in this web site cannot and should not be used as a basis for diagnosis or choice of treatment.