How To Avoid Jet Lag The Natural Way

Many people travel during the winter. Whether it's to visit family during Christmas, a ski break, or even a holiday somewhere exotic to escape the dreary English weather.

But for some, their winter holidays can be plagued by the one thing dreaded by all travellers - jet lag.

Don't let your holiday be spoiled by jet lag this winter. Try these tips to help stop jet lag from becoming a problem.

Nasty consequences of long distance travelling

But first, lets examine exactly what jet lag is.

It is a temporary condition some experience after a flight that crosses several time zones. Crossing time zones causes your internal clock to be out of sync with the external environment.

Symptoms can include fatigue, disorientation, disturbed sleep, confusion, leg and foot discomfort and dehydration. These are often accompanied by a lack of concentration and motivation. This can make it hard to do simple daily activities. And while you're on holiday, you definitely don't want to be bogged down with fatigue and a lack of motivation.

US NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) scientists estimate you need one day for every one-hour time zone crossed to regain normal rhythm and energy levels. So a 5-hour time difference means you will require five days to get back to normal. Who wants to spend their entire holiday just getting their body adjusted when there is so much fun to be had?

On the plane, dry atmosphere, stale air, cabin pressure, and a lack of sleep the night before a flight can also contribute to jet lag.

Reset your bodys internal clock before your flight

So what can you do to limit the effect jet lag has on your body? Well, one study found that taking melatonin supplements and using a light box for several days before crossing time zones helped travellers avoid jet lag by resetting their Circadian rhythms (biological clock).

Melatonin is a natural hormone secreted in the pineal gland during the night. It helps the body regulate the sleep-wake cycles. It has long been touted as a beneficial way to help people get a good nights sleep.

Researchers from Rush University Medical Centre in Chicago, studied 44 adults to see if melatonin would help travellers.

After adhering to a strict eight-hour sleep schedule and having their Circadian phases assessed for ten days, the group was split into three groups. One group received 0.5mg of melatonin, the second group received 3.0mg, while the third received a placebo. Their sleep/dark schedules were advanced by one hour a day. This continued for four days.

The researchers found that the phase advances were larger in those people who took melatonin (about 2.6 hours for those taking 3.0mg and 2.5 hours for those taking 0.5mg) compared to the placebo group, who only advanced 1.7 hours. Plus the participants experienced no jet-lag type symptoms.

According to lead research, Dr. Charmane Eastman, the new findings provide travellers with a method to avoid jet lag prior to flight. If they did this for the number of days equivalent to the number of time zones crossed, then they should be completely adjusted to the new time one before they fly, she said.

In order to reap the same benefits as the participants in the study, you should advance your sleep schedule by one hour a day as well as trying a melatonin supplement. So, for example, if you are crossing five time zones, you should start five days before you leave. That way by the time you arrive at your destination, your body will already be set to the correct time.

Unfortunately, for us here in the UK, melatonin is only available on prescription. So youll need to talk with your doctor prior to your flight.

Light boxes are available in the UK.

Three tips to help you have a good flight

If you cant get melatonin, here are some other tips that may help you get over jet lag quickly.

Drink plenty of fluids. The dry, stale air on the plane can cause dehydration. Drinking plenty of non-alcoholic fluids counters this. Water is the best choice, so take a large bottle on plane with you.

Exercise. Try walking up and down the aisles, or standing for a brief period of time. Also, you can try small stretches in your seat. Moving around helps reduce discomfort, especially in your legs and feet. Prolonged immobility can lead to an increased possibility of blood clots or DVT (deep vein thrombosis). This was reported as far back as 1988 in the medical journal, Lancet, which said it was estimated 'that over three years at Heathrow Airport, 18 percent of the 61 sudden deaths in long distance passengers were caused by clots in the lungs.'

Sleeping Aids. Sleeping pills or sedatives are not recommended as they can induce a heavy sleep with little to no body movement, which again can increase the likelihood of blood clots. Many so-called sleeping pills are variants on anti-histamines and they tend to dehydrate significantly, adding to the already big problem of in-flight dehydration. However, blindfolds, ear plugs and neck rests can help you sleep without the side effects of drugs.

These tips may not be fancy or unusual, in fact they are just good common sense. Even so, they can work. A lot of airlines are now providing blindfolds to all passengers on long distance flights; and from my experience it certainly came in handy.