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Overcoming Jet Lag

There can be hardly anyone who regularly travels on business or for pleasure, across time zones on long haul fights, who has not experienced jet lag in some form or another. Advice on how to mitigate the effects abounds, from using pharmaceuticals to setting one’s watch to the time zone to which one is traveling. Dr Neil Nerwich, Group Medical Director – Assistance Europe, Middle East, Africa and the Americas, International SOS, qualified in civil aviation medicine, says that there is no escape from jet lag. While it is an inevitable although temporary disorder for those traveling across several time zones, the impact can be lessened and the following are some of Dr Nerwich’s recommendations

• The management of jet lag should start before embarkation. Be properly rested before setting out and where possible adjust your routine to the destination time zone (such as meals, sleep/wake times) leading up to the travel date.
• Business travelers should plan meetings at their destination to accommodate the effects of travel. Wherever feasible, look for a point in the meetings schedule that is ‘office hours’ both at your place of origin and your destination, if at all possible. This will avoid having your first meeting at the equivalent of sleeping hours in your home country. Simple calculations like this can certainly help with reducing the impact of jet lag.
• Sleeping during the fight may also help – depending on which seat you are in. Obviously the more comfortable fully reclining seats in first or business class offer a better chance of getting rest than the more cramped conditions in economy class. Even so eye masks and earplugs can help induce sleep.
• Drinking coffee and alcohol are certainly not recommended as both dehydrate the body. Alcohol also prevents rapid eye movement sleep leaving you tired when you wake up.
• Adapt your sleep and eating pattern to your destination time zone immediately after arrival.

Exposure to sunlight or bright artificial light is important when adjusting to a new time zone since light and darkness trigger the body’s biological clock.

• Cat napping can help too to ensure that over each 24-hour period the body is amassing sleep. •Exercising early morning and late afternoon wherever possible may also help reset your body clock.
• Dr Nerwich does not rule out melatonin as an aid to reducing jet lag but says that there is conflicting evidence of its efficacy and the drug affects individuals differently. “The jury is still out on this one and it is not a proven agent,” he says. “I recommend taking non-pharmaceutical measures first.”

Our appreciation to International SOS, An AEA Company for their generous contribution of this article through Colliers International. May 2009

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