Frequent Fliers Can Learn To Live With Jet Lag

Overcoming jet lag is not too difficult for those of us who fly only occasionally, perhaps once or twice a year on vacation or for the occasional business trip, but for regular long-haul fliers and aircrews, jet lag often brings a number of health problems which can become effectively permanent.

Long-haul travelers will be familiar with the disturbance to their pattern of sleep and the insomnia which can result from a long trip, as well as such things as changes in mood, irritability, stomach problems and difficulty in processing information. However, for the very frequent flyer these generally transient symptoms are a part of everyday life and are regularly joined by menstrual cycle problems for women and also by short-term psychiatric problems for some individuals. So how do you go about managing jet lag?

The major factors which influence the degree of jet lag which you experience, aside from how frequently you travel, are the distances traveled, the direction in which you travel and your age.

If you are regularly traveling across only one or two time zones then any affects will probably be very mild. However, once you start to cross more than three world time zones, and especially when you begin frequently traveling across six or more time zones, symptoms begin to increase markedly.

Jet lag symptoms are also far more marked if you are traveling east and affect you less when flying west. If you fly from London to Singapore on holiday for instance you will experience more jet lag on arrival in Singapore at the beginning of your holiday than you will in London when you get home.

In general when you are flying east you can expect jet lag to last for a few days and a good guide here is approximately two thirds of the number of time zones traveled across. For example, if you travel across six time zones you might expect jet lag to affect you for roughly four days. If you are flying west jet lag could be expected to last about half this time.

Age is also an important consideration when it comes to jet lag and, as your age increases, you will discover that you are affected more and more by jet lag.

A true jet lag cure does not exist but there is a lot that you can do to help in reducing the symptoms of jet lag.