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Jet lag can dampen the most exciting holidays. Almost everyone who has traveled through time zones knows what it's like. The experience lies somewhere between eating cooked oats one day and heal a hangover.
These metaphors of food and drink are not just a coincidence. It turns out that jet lag affects more than just our sleep. it also affects our internal organs. Given what is known about the importance of intestinal bacteria (the microbiome) and their relationship to immune function and well-being, it is clear that any discussion of jet lag and How to treat it
The problems begin with the fact that air travel across time zones disrupts our circadian rhythm – the human internal clock that has evolved over millennia to match the 24-hour cycle of the light and darkness of the Earth. is that maximum drowsiness coincides with a low point of body temperature, which is usually unrelated to external temperatures. Body temperature decreases as you sleep and is usually lower two to three hours before waking (which also coincides with your deepest sleep). Low body temperature seems to be a decisive factor in determining whether you feel sleepy or rested, depending on when you wake up
READ MORE:
* Here's what you can do for jet lag .
* Jet lag: what causes it and how to overcome it
* Using a sleep calculator to determine your bedtime is a "terrible" idea
When traveling in a new time zone time, your core body temperature does not recognize this change and continues to dive according to the time of the place you have left. If you are awake or waking before swimming, you are much more likely to feel groggy or uncomfortable, especially if you are exposed to light while your body temperature decreases. This is because the signals of light and temperature conflict with each other: The light tells you that you are awake; the temperature signal tells you that you are about to enter the deepest point of your sleep. Travelers often use sleeping pills, such as prescription sleeping pills "title =" "src =" https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/i/t/e/o/m /image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620×349.1qxk85.png/1532375379272.jpg "class =" photoborder "/>
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Travelers often use sleeping pills, like prescription sleeping pills
Although there is not much high quality studies on adjustment to new time zones, experts say that tinkering with our exposure to light and darkness can help this transition and gently synchronize the different signals.
The basic idea is to stay in the dark before the core temperature drops in response to your normal sleep schedule, and to be exposed to light after immersion.
For example, someone who is six hours from Washington to Paris at 11am in Paris. Ideally, this traveler should avoid the light (using black glasses or headbands while waiting for a connecting flight, or pulling the curtains of a hotel room) until 11 o'clock in the morning . This will allow the body to feel rested, aligning the light signals with the temperature signals. When you are looking for light after this point, you put your brain to sleep so that you feel less sleepy as your body temperature begins to rise.
This approach allows you to quickly change the body temperature.
Conversely, when one is heading west, exposure to light comes first, followed by a planned shift to darkness in the morning. using sunglasses or blinds. If you travel from Paris to Washington, your central temperature could begin to fall around 4 am Paris time, or 22 hours. So, you will want to maximize your exposure to light until around 10 pm Washington time, after which you should look for darkness.
Because your body adjusts over a series of days, it can be difficult to understand complex patterns. But there are website calculators that present a clever plan for adjusting light exposure before and after the finish.
Remedial sleep before or after a flight is another way of reducing jet lag. Extrapolating from studies of shift workers with often irregular hours at night, it may be thought that napping before departure can essentially be used to repay some of the early sleep debt
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Time difference affects more than our sleep;
Most sleep experts give a little help with short naps, and they are OK with longer naps as long as they do not prevent them from adapting to sleep habits. sleep desired in sleep.
Studies of itinerant athletes and shift workers show different effects of nap duration on mental and physical performance. Some results suggest that naps of no more than 10 minutes help, while others indicate napping benefits as long as 1 hour and a half.
The same approach goes for jet lag after sleep deprivation, when it's time to compensate for lost sleep. Travelers should try to delay their sleep until the night at the new place, then optimize the darkness and reduce the noise exposure to get a good night's sleep catch-up. Also avoid using caffeine to avoid this time difference: Although it can help you feel alert during the day, it can affect the quality of sleep if it is caught in six to eight hours before bedtime. show that melatonin supplements, which can be purchased over-the-counter in pharmacies, can induce drowsiness and prolong sleep.
Some experts recommend that melatonin be used in advance to take three days before flying. Experts say that a reasonable amount seems to be one to three milligrams five hours before bedtime.
You can also start treatment after arrival. For travelers flying to the east, the dose of melatonin is two to five milligrams before bedtime at the new destination.
For travelers flying to the west, some studies found that five milligrams of melatonin on the day of departure between 10am and noon. then again tonight between 10 pm and midnight at local time can improve sleepiness and feeling of well-being.
Travelers often use other sleep aids, such as prescription sleeping pills. The quality of the studies is not enough to recommend them for setting the time difference, although they can help those who suffer from insomnia in the middle of the night.
Beyond drowsiness at the wrong time, jet lag affects our internal organs: the pancreas, heart and gastrointestinal tract have their own daily rhythms.
Although these rhythms are regulated in part by a main pacemaker in a tiny region of the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus, the change of weather may affect different organs differently. The most obvious sign of this is the "bowel delay" – being hungry (or having no appetite) at the wrong time, experiencing constipation or experiencing the need to use the room bath at unexpected times. There is even evidence that gastrointestinal lining can affect the intestinal microbiome (these bacteria colonizing our gut) and make us more susceptible to travelers' diarrhea. This is partly because disrupting the daily rhythms of our 100 billion intestinal microbes can adversely affect their immune function.
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As for jet lag, there are some things you can do to handle the delay of the bowel.
Experts recommend eating as little as possible along the way to avoid the possibility of indigestion. This can be difficult for souls deprived of sleep: It is well known that eating is often a way to compensate for lack of sleep. (People deprived of sleep tend to gain weight.)
For some, eating before leaving can prevent hunger before arriving.
Intestinal habits will adjust more quickly if you eat immediately during scheduled meal times. the new time zone. Exercise can also help regulate bowel function, with the added bonus that it can make you feel less sleepy. Whatever you do, drink plenty of water or other liquids: People often dehydrate in flight, which can aggravate constipation, a well-known feature of the intestines. If it persists for more than a few days, mild laxatives may be helpful.
A final warning about tips on jet lag and jet lag. Despite the incredible influence of the cycle of darkness and light, we are all slightly different. Some people are naturally early birds; others are of course late risers. There's even an online quiz that tells you if you're a lark or an owl, and the results may explain why jet lag advice might not work for everyone the same way.
our fabrics have multiple clocks with varying effects, and some of our internal parts take longer than others to adapt to changing times. Given this complex interrelationship involving our brain, our other organs and the rhythms of light and darkness, there is no single advice for travelers. This can take several time zones and do experiments on light exposure, sleep patterns, melatonin and diet before determining what suits you best.
Caroline Wellbery is a family physician and associate professor at Georgetown University of the United States Medical School
– The Washington Post
