There very nearly wasn’t a blog post scheduled for this week due to one thing – jet lag.
However, for once, I was well-prepared and actually wrote this a few weeks back, safe in the knowledge that I would most likely be incapable of stringing two words together this week.
Jet lag really knocks me for six, especially if I’ve flown from the USA back to Scotland.
So, what causes jet lag?
No, the answer isn’t really “Going on holiday” but it is…kind of.
If you travel across more than three time zones there’s every likelihood that you will feel the effects of jet lag to some extent.
My summer trip this year is (well, was, by the time you read this) a trip to Venice Beach, CA, USA followed by a few days near Philadelphia before flying home. That’s a journey through sixteen different time zones in just over two weeks.
Jet lag itself is basically caused by your body’s internal clock getting knocked out of sync by crossing too many time zones too quickly. Some people believe that jet lag is all in the mind but that couldn’t be further from the truth, although the mind is impacted by it.
Brain fog, poor concentration, and temporary memory loss can all be symptoms of jet lag. I experienced this over twenty years ago the first time I took my kids to visit family in the USA. My aunt had very kindly looked out a pile of children’s books to help entertain my two. Girl Child was only 4 years old at the time and wanted me to read Dr Seuss’ “One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish “aloud to her. I tried. I really tried but by the time we had got to about page eighteen and met a man called Gump who had a seven hump wump, I gave in. I just could not read it, In the end, I passed the book to Boy Child who was 6 years old to finish reading it to his sister.
Jet lag causes biological chaos in the body. It puts your mind and your body at odds with one another. One is wanting to eat because at home it would be a mealtime while the other is saying “No. It’s time to sleep.” The sleep hormone, melatonin, is one that gets knocked for six with jet lag and surge randomly throughout the day. I tend to experience this when I fly east back to Scotland and for a week feel randomly sleepy around 4 o’clock in the afternoon.
It is recognised that jet lag hits harder when flying east. Flying east shortens the day and that is harder to adapt to than the extended day (late night) you experience flying west.
The actual flight itself also contributes thanks to low humidity on planes, the pressurised air in the cabin and a general lack of hydration.
On average, jet lag lasts one day one day for every time zone crossed so I should be back in the right rhythm in time to write next week’s blog!
(image sourced via Google – credits to the owner )
Coral McCallum 