Prepare Your Travel Health

Without careful planning heavy jet lag can ruin a trip or holiday overseas.

Jet lag occurs when the natural body clock is temporarily disrupted. This commonly occurs on long haul flights when you fly across several time zones and causes the travellerÂ’s internal clock to become out of sync with the external environment and the body begins to feel fatigue.

Most commonly jet lag occurs when you travel across several time zones, which disrupts your usual sleeping and eating patterns, as the body struggles to readjust itself to the new time zone.

The symptoms of jet lag very between individuals and some people may be fortunate enough to experience little or no jet lag following a long haul flight across several time zones. Common symptoms of jet lag include exhaustion, fatigue, inability to sleep, lack of appetite, head aches and a general feeling of disorientation.

OK, so knowing this information how can you beat the symptoms of jet lag? There are two core approaches which while may not entirely prevent jet lag can go a long way toward reducing the overall symptoms commonly associated with jet lag. The first is to ensure that your body is the optimum condition to fight against common features which contribute to jet lag, and the second is to try and ‘trick’ the body into maintaining its natural circadian rhythms.

1. Avoid alcohol: AlcoholÂ’s effect on the body is multiplied at altitude, so that the consumption of even relatively small amounts can be significantly be multiplied at altitude.

2. Drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration. Air cabins are controlled environments which tend to rely on recycled air through air conditioning units which can lead to enhanced dehydration and its associated problems, namely sleepiness, headaches and so on.

3. A long haul flight is a naturally tiring process, to ensure that you have the best chance of beating jet lag, it is important to ensure that you commence your flight relaxed and not-tired. While this may be difficult given the general stresses and strains of modern airports, a good nightÂ’s sleep and a short brisk walk prior to flying will certainly put your body in a better condition to fly.

4. Stay active throughout the flight. Regularly stretch your legs and move around the cabin as much as possible. Long periods of immobility will otherwise inevitably invoke tiredness.

5. Use the time zones to your advantage. By planning your journey carefully it is possible to use the time zones to your advantage to work reduce the effects of jet lag.

As such, the best time to arrive at your destination is during daylight hours when the sunlight will naturally alert your body.

The simple secret is to maintain the normal pattern of living in line with the time at your destination as quickly as possible. Thus, if you arrive at 10pm, even if you have slept for the whole of the flight you should try and go to sleep when you arrive. This is inevitably harder if you arrive in the evening as it is more difficult to unnaturally force yourself to sleep than to keep yourself awake.

To counter jet lag, it is therefore essential to aim to arrive at your destination at a time when you feel that you will be able to continue the normal living pattern of the destination. As hard as it may be to stay awake, the sooner you can recourse to the regular pattern of living at your destination the smaller the likelihood of being effected by Jet Lag.