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Frequent Fliers Can Learn To Live With Jet Lag

By RomanticHeart | October 29, 2008

Overcoming jet lag is not too hard for those of us who jet off around the world infrequently, perhaps once or twice a year on holiday or for the occasional business trip, but for aircrews and those of us who fly regularly, jet lag frequently brings various health problems that can become effectively permanent.

Long-haul travelers will be familiar with the interference with their pattern of sleep and the insomnia which can be produced by a long trip, in addition to such things as changes in mood, irritability, stomach problems and difficulty in dealing with information. However, for the very frequent flyer these usually transient symptoms become a part of daily life and are frequently joined by menstrual cycle problems for women and even by short-term psychiatric difficulties for a few individuals. So how do you go about managing jet lag?

The chief factors in influencing the degree of jet lag which you experience, apart from how often you travel, are the distances traveled, the direction in which you travel and how old you are.

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

The symptoms of jet lag are also more apparent when you are traveling east and tend to affect you less when flying west. If you are traveling from London to Singapore on holiday for instance you will experience greater jet lag when you arrive in Singapore at the beginning of your holiday than you will in London when you return home.

Generally when traveling 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 crossed. For example, if you travel across six time zones you ahould expect jet lag to affect you for roughly four days. When traveling west jet lag may be expected to last for about half of this time.

Another important element when it comes to jet lag is age and, as you get older, you will find that you are affected more and more by jet lag.

There is no such thing as a true jet lag cure but there is a lot that you can do to assist in reducing the symptoms of jet lag.