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Optimize Your Travel: Simple Solutions for Managing and Reducing Jet Lag
A Bite-Size Read for Your Health and Waistline
Summer travel? Planning for the end-of-year holidays? Let me help you plan better, as we discuss jet lag and how you can minimize or even prevent it!
Most of us are informally familiar with jet lag as difficulty adjusting to a new time zone after traveling. Did you know it’s classified as a circadian rhythm sleep disorder? Surprising, right?! As we explore jet lag, it’s important to recognize that not everything we experience is jet lag; there’s also travel fatigue. Travel fatigue can cause tiredness and headaches but it’s more related to the physical toils of travel, like not eating properly, having a disrupted schedule, and dehydration. True jet lag requires travel across three or more time zones and is essentially a mismatch between our body’s internal clock and the new time zone. Its impact, however, varies greatly from person to person in not only the symptoms they experience but the severity and even the duration. Some people might experience significant effects, while others might hardly notice.
According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, jet lag can last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. This reminds me of how daylight savings time, even though it’s only an hour difference, can disrupt our routines…
