Beat Jet Lag: Expert tips for smooth, energized travel
Discover proven strategies to minimize jet lag and enjoy your vacation to the fullest. Learn how to optimize sleep, use light and exercise effectively to ensure you get the most of your vacation
Like many of you, I am excited to spend quality time away with my family this summer ✈️. But with time at a premium these days, how do I minimize the effects of jet lag to make the most of my vacation?
Jet lag isn't just a pesky inconvenience—it's a physiological challenge stemming from the misalignment of our internal body clock with the local time at our destination.
Picture this: you've crossed multiple time zones, but your body's internal clock stubbornly clings to its previous schedule, resulting in a cascade of symptoms ranging from fatigue, poor sleep, and loss of appetite.
Believe it or not, the physiological changes you see below e.g. highest alertness at 10am, best coordination at 2.30pm - is ALL orchestrated through LIGHT! Light is not just here to help us see - it is incredibly important for our well-being. Jet lag is basically a misalignment in external light and our internal body clock.
Of course, not all travel will cause jet lag. It tends to be noticed if you cross more than 3 time zones. For most people, traveling in an eastward direction is more difficult to adjust, and westward is easier. On average, we adjust to the local time zone by 1 hour per day. So if you’ve crossed 7 time zones e.g. going from California to Europe, it can take a week just to adjust!
The good news is that it is possible to reduce the impact of jet lag, and I will provide tried and tested, tangible tools that I use to speed up the adjustment. The methods are generally divided into 2 approaches - pharmacological (using supplements or medications) and non-pharmacological (lifestyle) strategies.
Those who know me will know that I don’t like taking medication unless I absolutely have to. But there are so many science-backed ways to overcome jet lag. So let’s look at what strategies I adopt, and what supplements I use.
Non-pharmacological strategies: Harnessing the Power of Lifestyle Interventions
Sleep
When thinking about how sleep can impact your jet lag, remember that prevention is key, and it starts before you even board the plane. Quality sleep serves as a buffer against the inevitable disruptions to your sleep patterns during travel. Therefore, prioritize quality sleep in the days leading up to your departure. While the urge to adjust to your destination's time zone beforehand is tempting, focus on ensuring uninterrupted, restorative sleep. To help, check out my article on How to sleep better in the archive for more tips on this.
Light
Light plays an intimate part in regulating our body clocks (aka circadian rhythm) and is often considered the most important cue.
There is overwhelming evidence that exposure to light, even for periods as short as 5 minutes, can have a powerful effect on retraining our circadian rhythm and improving the quality of sleep.12
The timing of light exposure matters and determines how effective it is on ‘re-training’ our body clock.3
Scroll down to my Pro-Tips section to find out the little-known tool that I use to help me when planning my holiday.
Exercise
After light, exercise is considered a potent factor in shifting our body clocks.
If I’m honest, the data is conflicting, and I think this may be due to study designs.4 But what’s the downside to exercise? NONE! It’s usually free to do, and is beneficial for our health in other ways EVEN if it doesn’t help with jet lag…. Plus the weight of evidence provided in this systematic review supports exercise being able to help retrain our circadian rhythm.5
The timing of the exercise appears to be a deciding factor. Read my recommendations in the Pro-Tips section where I will elaborate on how I use exercise to overcome jet lag.