HOW TO COPE WITH JET LAG

Traveling around the world is an exciting experience for most of us and thanks to planes; we have shortened distances and broaden the options when choosing farther destinies that we would have never visited. Because of this, nowadays in the world, there are more people who fly from one continent to other in short periods of time. However, many of them

are affected by sudden changes of circadian hours, produced for traveling long distances in short time; this may cause imbalance on their bodies which turns their dream vacations, or coming back home into a nightmare.

This imbalance, which mostly affects our biological clock, is known as jet lag and the more frequent symptoms are: fatigue or weakness, insomnia, headaches, loss of appetite, mood changes, irritability and lack of concentration. Although, these symptoms are temporary and they do not indicate seriousness, there are some advices that can help to overtake the effects of jet lag.

To get used to the new timetable of your destination: To achieve this, we may start a week before the flight checking the time difference with respect to the destination, adjusting the sleeping hours according to this. For instance, if we travel to the west, we have to sleep and get up an hour later, and if our trip is to the east, we may sleep and get up an hour before. Therefore, it is important to sleep more than seven hours the night before our flight.

Sleeping during the trip: At this respect, firstly, we might be prepared psychologically, adjusting our watch to the time of destination, then, we will sleep or not depending on the arrival time. For example: if the arrival to the country of destination is during the day, we may sleep for a short time; do not forget to carry a pillow, ear stoppers and an eye cover in order to rest comfortably. However, if the arrival is at night, the most appropriate is to keep awake in the plane, so that at the arrival we can rest adequately.

Eat properly: According to experts, we should eat, at least during the four previous days, with food rich in proteins at breakfast and lunch time, the supper may contain carbohydrates, and two days before the trip we may reduce the consumption of calories.
Finally, during and after the flight, drink plenty of liquids; avoid coffee and alcoholic beverages, don’t alter the sleeping patterns or even dehydration; walk in the plane to stimulate blood circulation; and when you reach your destination, exercise yourself to relief the rigidity caused by the journey and take a rest on the first day of your stay.

Do not let the “jet lag” to be an excuse for not travelling. You know how to handle and how to adapt to a new timetable, you will notice how two days later these effects pass by, so take into account these advices and you will enjoy your dream holidays.