It depends on many factors: the time of day of travel, the speed, distance, and direction of travel, the person’s internal clock time, the person’s habitual sleep/wake schedule, and the light/dark schedule. It is difficult to predict what new schedule an individual should adopt in order to minimize the effects of jet lag. It is the cue for the body to know when it should be awake and active. Of all the environmental cues, light is the most powerful synchronizer of our internal biological clock. It is usually advisable to avoid long daytime naps in the new time zone in order to build up enough of a drive to sleep to promote nighttime sleep. The environmental cues that nudge the entrainment process along include exposure to light in the first few days following travel, being active, and eating meals and sleeping at appropriate times in the new time zone. That adaptation-in which the internal clock readjusts itself a little bit every day until it is in the normal alignment with the external environment-is called entrainment.

Your body feels that it is time to go to sleep when others are having breakfast, and you feel wide awake when everyone around you is fast asleep.įortunately, jet lag is usually temporary because our internal biological clock adapts in response to external cues in the new environment. This is due to circadian misalignment: your body's internal clock is out of synch with the actual time in the new time zone. Shifting to a new time zone in this way may result in sleep disturbances. However, to your body it will feel like the middle of the night-because back in Boston it actually is midnight. For example, if you take a six-hour flight from Boston to Paris and your plane leaves at 6:00 p.m., it will touch down at 6:00 a.m. Because plane travel is quick, someone who crosses several time zones will experience a temporary desynchronization between the new time zone schedule and his or her internal clock. This clock is the pacemaker system that controls many different bodily functions during a 24-hour period and regulates when we sleep and when we wake up. Jet lag is a result of the mismatch between the external environment and our internal biological clock. If you've ever traveled by plane across several times zones, chances are you've experienced 'jet lag.' Symptoms of jet lag may include excessive daytime sleepiness, nighttime insomnia, headache, loss of appetite, gastrointestinal problems, and irritability or mild depression. Jet lag occurs when your body’s internal clock is out of sync with the current time zone. If It Feels Like Midnight, This Must Be Paris

Undergraduate Opportunities to Perform Scientific Research.Getting the Sleep You Need: When to Seek Treatment.Getting the Sleep You Need: Jet Lag and Shift Work.Getting the Sleep You Need: You and Your Biological Clock.Getting the Sleep You Need: Overcoming Factors that Interfere with Sleep.Genetics, Aging and Sleep: the Genetics of Sleep.

Genetics, Aging and Sleep: Profiles of Changes with Age.Genetics, Aging and Sleep: Sleep and Aging.Science of Sleep: How is Sleep Regulated?.Why Sleep Matters: Historical and Cultural Perspectives of Sleep.Why Sleep Matters: Consequences of Sleep Deficiency.Editorial Ethics and Compliance Standards.

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