Jet Lag
Jet Lag
22 Hints for Arriving Alert
Just suppose that instead of setting the clock ahead 1 hour each spring for daylight saving time, we set it ahead 3 hours. What do you think would happen?
Besides creating "endless summer" nights, we would also create a nation of jet-lagged zombies. Adjusting our own inner body clocks isn't as easy as changing the time of the clock on the wall.
Yet when we fly across several time zones, we ask our bodies to adjust to a new time and a new place right now. It's a very unrealistic expectation. That's why we suffer jet lag. And the more time zones we cross, the more we suffer.
Typically, each time zone crossed requires about one day of adjustment, says Charles Ehret, Ph.D., author of Overcoming Jet Lag and president of General Chronobionics in Hinsdale, Illinois. (Chronobiology, by the way, is the study of time's effect on plants, animals, and people.)
The previously mentioned inner body clock, says Dr. Ehret, is really a whole set of clocks controlled by a master clock. "Every cell in the body is a clock," he explains, "and they're all brought together by a special pacemaker in the brain."
Normally our body clocks operate on cycles approximately 24 to 25 hours long. But rapid time changes disrupt all that. The result is jet lag—fatigue, lethargy, inability to sleep, trouble concentrating and making decisions, irritability, perhaps even diarrhea and a lack of appetite.
Hardly what you envisioned when you wrote out a big fat check to the travel agency for your dream vacation to Europe. But before you ground yourself and settle for that 29th annual driving vacation to the Grand Canyon, read on.
Though you can't make time stand still, there's a lot you can do to take some of the zap out of jet lag.
Fight Jet Lag with Feast and Fast The now-famous anti-jet lag diet developed by Charles Ehret, Ph.D., grew out of extensive animal research at the Argonne National Laboratory. In actuality, it is more than a diet. Daylight, social cues, sleeping patterns, and mental and physical exercise all play a role in making the diet work, Dr. Ehret says. But the core of the plan involves a four-day sequence of feast-fast/feast-fast prior to the day of arrival. For these purposes, feast means to eat as much as you want and fast means to eat lightly. Here are some sample menus for a fast day. Breakfast: two eggs, any style, and one-half piece of lightly buttered toast—214 calories. Lunch: one chicken breast, skin removed; 1 cup bouillon; 1/2 cup of low-fat pot cheese or cottage cheese—245 calories. Supper: one small bowl of pasta, lightly buttered with margarine; one piece of bread, lightly buttered; 1 cup cooked vegetables—broccoli, string beans, summer squash, or carrots; one alcoholic beverage (optional)—355 calories. Caffeine is also a major part of the plan. Experiments with laboratory animals, Dr. Ehret says, have shown that caffeine can be used to reset body clocks. Now let's examine some additional aspects of Dr. Ehret's plan as applied to a westward flight with a 3-hour time change, for example, a trip from New York to San Francisco in which you arrive in San Francisco at 8:30 a.m. local time. Change your caffeine habits. Thress days before the flight, stop consuming caffeine—except from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. One day before the flight, caffeine is allowed only between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m. On the day of the flight, drink 2 to 3 cups of black coffee. But do this no later than 11:30 a.m. and have no more caffeine the rest of the day. Set your watch to the new destination time. Start acclimating yourself to the time change; stay mentally active in the half-hour immediately preceding breakfast time at your destination. Pass up breakfast with the passengers. Arrange to have breakfast at the breakfast time of your destination. In this situation, it would be soon before landing. Eat a hearty lunch with the natives. You may arrive in San Francisco in the morning, but you should put off eating until lunchtime. But it's also a feast day, so enjoy. |
|
Live on a schedule. Weeks, or at least days before you leave, you should be maintaining a sensible schedule. "People who have no order in their lives—who stay up late to watch a movie and start doing their laundry at 2:00 a.m.—have more trouble with jet lag," says Dr. Ehret. "Make sure your circadian rhythms [body clock cycles] are in sync."
Get enough sleep. Shortchange yourself on sleep before your trip, Dr. Ehret says, and you can just about count on making jet lag worse. "Give yourself about 15 extra minutes of sleep each of the last few nights before you travel."
Fly by day, arrive at night. "The best plan is to arrive at your destination in midevening, get something light to eat, and go to bed by 11:00 p.m. destination time," says Timothy Mond, Ph.D., an associate professor of psychiatry and director of the Human Chronobiology Research Program at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
This scenario, Dr. Monk says, gives your body optimal opportunity to adjust to the change in time zones.
Drink plenty of fluids during the flight. "Airplane cabins are notoriously dry, Dr. Monk says, and fluids will help combat dehydration. Being dehydrated obviously won't help you beat jet lag.
Avoid alcohol. Ask for juice instead. Alcohol is a diuretic and will further dehydrate you.
Pretend you're not on a plane. Trans World Airlines flight attendant Jonie Nolan does this when she is not working and just traveling as a passenger. "I get a pillow and shut my eyes, but I don't go to sleep, and I pretend I'm not on the flight," she says. "I daydream—thinking pleasant, positive thoughts or just making plans for what I'm going to do next week."
She says she hasn't tried this on really long flights, but finds it effective for trips where she crosses two time zones.
Be quiet and relax. This is Nolan's strategy when she is flying coast-to-coast. Use the flight as an opportunity to enjoy solitude and get some relaxation. That way you aren't overstressed before asking your body to suddenly shift 3 hours.
Do as the Romans do. When you arrive, start adapting to your new environment as quickly as possible. "Get involved—notice the new street names and the language of the people," says Dr. Ehret. "This will help you to adjust."
Socialize. This is especially important if you body is craving sleep, but it's only midafternoon at your destination. "When we're socializing, our bodies assume it's daytime because human beings are, by nature, daytime creatures," says Marijo Readey, Ph.D., a researcher at the Argonne National Laboratory. "That's why many shift workers have symptoms like chronic jet lag."
Don't nap. Or if you do, limit the nap to 1 hour. Napping, Dr. Monk says, will just delay your adjustment to the new time zone.
Soak up some sunshine. "One school of thought, and the one I subscribe to, says get out in the sun at your destination as much as possible," says Dr. Monk. The theory, he adds, is that this exposure will help keep your biological clock in the stimulated and awake state during daylight hours at your destination.
"When light strikes the eye, neurotransmitters are released that send an immediate signal to specific regions of the brain," Dr. Ehret explains. "In turn, these brain regions signal the rest of the body that your awake-and-active phase is about to begin."
Make a date with the sun. Some experts feel the time of day you get out in the sunshine is also important. Light earlier in the day appears to shift the body's clock to an earlier hour, while light later in the day seems to shift the body's clock to a later hour, according to Al Lewy, M.D., Ph.D., a psychiatrist at the Oregon Health Sciences University School of Medicine.
So if you've traveled east, Dr. Lewy suggests getting outside light in the morning. And if you've traveled west, he recommends getting outside light in the afternoon. This only works, however, if you're crossing six or fewer time zones.
Exercise. "It makes sense," Dr. Monk says, "that if you usually go jogging, you should go jogging at your destination. It will get your body pumped up, help alertness, and get you out in the sunlight."
A study at the University of Toronto also suggests that exercise will actually reduce the number of days jet lag affects you. Researchers exposed golden hamsters (nocturnal animals with stable activity rhythms) to artificial light and advanced the onset of darkness 8 hours, simulating the conditions of a long flight east.
After darkness, one group of hamsters exercised on a running wheel. The other group mostly slept. While the nonrunning hamsters took 5.4 days to adjust and to resume normal nocturnal activity, the running hamsters adjusted in just 1.6 days.
The Alternative Route
How Three Famous Globe-Trotters Tried to Cope Quick, what did Henry Kissinger, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Lyndon Johnson all have in common? Each had a personal strategy for trying to beat jet lag. In his book Overcoming Jet Lag, Charles Ehret, Ph.D., tells about each method. He also says that none of these methods are very reliable. But here they are, should you want to give them a try. Take the diplomatic route. Several days before the flight, start going to bed 1 hour earlier and getting up 1 hour later. This was former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's routine. The problem with this plan, Dr. Ehret says, is the rigidity it demands. Kissinger couldn't always follow it consistently, and most people would probably have the same problem. There's also no proof, Dr. Ehret adds, that this approach measurably reduces jet lag. Arrive extra early. Former President Eisenhower tried to arrive several days ahead of time before meeting with foreign leaders. The problem with Eisenhower's plan, Dr. Ehret says, is that often he didn't arrive early enough to compensate for the one-time-zone-crossed-equals-one-day-of-adjustment rule. Live by your home clock. After arriving at a new destination, former President Lyndon Johnson insisted on maintaining his old schedule—eating and sleeping at his usual time. He even arranged meetings at hours that were convenient by Washington, D.C., time, but not so convenient for the foreigners with whom he was meeting. Perhaps you can get away with this if you're the president of the United States, Dr. Ehret says, but for the average traveler it may be hard to get dinner reservations for 2:00 a.m.—even in Paris. |
|
Think before you react. Put off all important decision-making for 24 hours or at least until you fell well rested, advises Dr. Ehret. You will not be doing your clearest thinking after a long trip.
In business, he says, "People have made bad deals and later identified jet lag as the reason."
Reverse the process. If possible, use these tips to prepare for your return flight home, too. Jet lag is a two-way sky.
PANEL OF ADVISERS
Charles Ehret, Ph.D., is president of General Chronobionics in Hinsdale, Illinois, and author of Overcoming Jet Lag. He also is a retired senior scientist from the Argonne National Laboratory, a unit of the U.S. Department of Energy.
Al Lewy, M.D., Ph.D., is a psychiatrist at Oregon Health Sciences University School of Medicine in Portland. He has done studies on the effects of sunlight on the human body clock.
Timothy Monk, Ph.D., is an associate professor of psychiatry and director of the Human Chronobiology Research Program at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in Pennsylvania.
Jonie Nolan has been a flight attendant for Trans World Airlines since 1981. She is based in St. Louis, Missouri.
Marijo Readey, Ph.D., is a researcher at the Argonne National Laboratory, a unit of the U.S. Department of Energy.
