If you have ever taken a long flight across time zones, you may have felt tired, sleepless, and out of sync, which is a condition called jet lag. In this blog, you will understand what causes jet lag and why it happens. Moreover, you will also get detailed knowledge to manage and recover faster from this severe disorder. Let’s dive in!
1) What Is Jet Lag?
“Jet lag is a temporary sleep disorder that causes your body’s internal clock to be out of rhythm after traveling long distances.”
Your body’s circadian rhythm is a 24-hour cycle that maintains your sleep, alertness, and eating cycles. When you travel rapidly across different time zones, your internal clock cannot rapidly adapt to the new light-dark cycle. Thus, due to misalignment between your body clock and local time, jet lag occurs.
The symptoms of this jet lag condition are tiredness, sleep trouble, and feeling “out of sorts.”
2) The Main Cause of Jet Lag: Disruption of Your Circadian Rhythm
Okay! Your circadian rhythm and jet lag are interlinked. Your internal 24-hour body clock plays a role in controlling your sleep, eating, alertness, and wake cycles.
Well, the suprachiasmatic nucleus is present in your brain and functions as the master clock. Moreover, your internal clock cycle depends on the sunlight. In the presence of light, your brain stops producing the melatonin hormone that makes you sleepy. That’s why jet lag happens quickly on rapid time zone transitions.
3) Why Crossing Time Zones Confuses Your Body
A question can arise in your mind: Why does crossing time zones effects your body, right? Let’s discuss:
Your Body Stays on “Home Time.”
When you rapidly travel across different time zones, your body clock distruption. So, your schedule is also disturbed. That’s why you feel lazy, drowsy, or have low energy during the daytime and get alert at nighttime.
Local Time Is Different
You know, when you change your time zone, your local time is changed, but your body expects the old routine. Well, light and dark are the main signals for your circadian rhythm. Thus, when these signals undergo rapid changes, your body does not quickly respond accordingly.
Sleep Pressure Mismatch
By changing the time zone, your sleep and wake cycle is also disturbed. You may feel lazy during the day or active at night because of the variation in time zones.
Hormonal Misalignment
Your body produces hormones (i.e., melatonin) according to your old routine, in the evening. Thus, even if it is daytime in your new zone, your body feels it is night or vice versa.
For example, if you travel from New York to London, your body responds by considering it earlier in the evening, while according to the London clock, it’s morning. Thus, jet lag happens because of this mismatch of time zones.
4) Why Is Jet Lag Worse When Flying East?
Jet lag is worse when you're flying east. It is because when you travel across the east, your body finds it difficult to bring the body clock forward rather than delay it. You know, when you fly towards the east, you “lose hours”; this means you want to sleep earlier than your routine schedule.
On the other hand, if you travel across the West, your body gets the additional hours that are easy to manage. Thus, your travel towards the east is more difficult than flying across the west. To put it simply, east vs. west jet lag describes how losing hours disturbs your sleep, hormones, and alertness more than gaining them.
5) How Many Time Zones Cause Jet Lag?
Let’s discuss the time zones that cause jet lag.
Jet Lag Threshold
Well, after travelling through 2-3 time zones, jet lag symptoms appeared. This is the point when your internal clock tries to match your body's routine with the local time. Generally, the symptoms are mild when you cross 2-3 time zones, and they become severe with more zones crossed.
Severity Increases With More Zones
As you further move across more zones, the mismatch between your body clock and local time increases. So, the severity of the symptoms of jet lag increases.
Short Flights Generally Don’t Cause Jet Lag
Well, if your flight remains in 1-2 time zones, then there are fewer chances of jet lag happening. You may feel lazy or tired, but your body's internal clock is almost mismatched with your local time.
6) What Happens to Your Body During Jet Lag?
When your internal clock is disturbed by your local time, it leads to various jet lag symptoms. The symptoms include:
Insomnia
You may start waking at night because your body feels it is night. It is a sign of insomnia.
Daytime sleepiness
Next, your body feels daytime sleepiness because it expects the daytime and the effort to remain active.
Digestive issues
Moreover, your digestive system is also disturbed. It is because your meals do not align with the routine of your old time zone. Thus, your digestive system leads to discomfort, bloating, or irregular hunger.
Irritability
Another symptom is feeling irritable because your body is exhausted and anxious to manage the routine.
Difficulty concentrating
Your brain does not accept the routine easily. So, your concentration becomes difficult.
7) Factors That Affect How Severe Jet Lag Is
Let’s talk about some of the major factors that affect severe jet lag:
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Age: The main factor is age. If you are a younger one, your body can easily align with the new schedule. But this alignment becomes difficult in older people.
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Direction of travel: Another factor is direction of travel. As you know, the jet lag becomes worse when travelling towards the east. But, for a west flight, jet lag is less severe.
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Number of time zones crossed: As the number of time zones crossed increases, the severity of jet lag symptoms increases.
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Individual sleep habits: If your sleep schedule is already disturbed, then your body's efforts are more to adjust to the new time zone.
- Length of stay: Lastly, the length of stay also plays a role in affecting the jet lag. If you stay for a longer time, your body adjusts easily and feels better from crossing time zone effects.
How Long Does Jet Lag Last?
Generally, your body requires just one day to adjust for each time zone crossed. Thus, if you travel five time zones, 5 days will be required for your body to adjust. However, the jet lag recovery time varies with people. Some people recover from jet lag in just 2-3 days, but others may take a week to recover.
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8) Questions to Answer (FAQ Section)
1. What is the main cause of jet lag?
The main cause of jet lag is disruption of your circadian rhythm. Your internal body clock is mismatched with your local time after travelling several time zones.
2. Why does jet lag happen when flying?
Jet lag happens after flying a long distance because your local time and body clock are mismatched.
3. Why is jet lag worse when flying east?
Flying east is difficult because your body sets its clock earlier. However, the lost hours disturb your sleep cycle, and adjustment becomes more difficult than westbound flying.
4. How many time zones cause jet lag?
Generally, jet lag happens after travelling 2-3 or more time zones. As you move more, the jet lag severity increases.
5. How long does jet lag last?
Normally, jet lag lasts for about one day per time zone crossed. But some people take a week or more to recover.
6. Does everyone get jet lag?
No, jet lag severity depends on various factors. The factors include age, direction of flying, sleep habits, and the number of time zones.