Jet Lag: causes, symptoms and remedies to prevent and alleviate it.

This condition appears after a long trip across several time zones.

Jet Lag is a temporary sleep disorder, very common among people who travel through different time zones in a short period of time. in a short period of time. It is characterized by symptoms that are transient and usually subside naturally.

However, and as a consequence of the great mobility that characterizes our current societies, science has done a lot of research on its effects as well as some ways to remedy it. Here we explain what Jet Lag is (and why it is so called), how long it usually lasts, what are its symptoms and what remedies exist.

What is Jet Lag?

Jet Lag is a Temporary Disorder of Circadian Sleep Rhythms. (CRSDs), also known as "jet lag disorder", which usually affects people who travel through different time zones in a short period of time.

It is known as "Jet Lag" from the Anglo-Saxon terms "plane" and "delay", which more or less could be translated into the expression: "jet lag from traveling by plane". This is because the most common case is precisely that of having traveled by plane from one country to another, where the time difference is significant (from east to west, or the other way around).

However, jet lag can also occur when traveling by car through the same time zone, but which modifies our waking and resting hours. For example, if a trip is made throughout the night.

Some of its symptoms may even occur without the need to travel, if our daily activities require us to significantly modify the schedules in which we wake up and go to sleep.

It is characterized by some symptoms related to physical and mental performance, for example, difficulties in sleeping (at the times that the place of destination is used to), which in turn causes a lot of fatigue and tiredness, low energy especially during the day, and a feeling of being less alert or less attentive.

Generally all these symptoms are temporary, however, if it is a person who constantly needs to make long trips, Jet Lag can cause more severe sleep disorders, as well as some alterations in cognitive functions and even other health damages related to the Gastrointestinal system, especially as the traveler's age increases.

Main causes

As we have seen, the cause of jet lag is having traveled long distances in a short time, which implies a major change in the waking and resting schedule.

The latter is due to the fact that our "biological clock" is exposed to a very drastic change that it cannot assimilate quickly. Specifically, our circadian rhythms are affected, which are the changes that occur in our organism according to external natural cycles, for example, as light and darkness change.

Thus, Jet Lag results from strong changes in our body's internal rhythms, as we are not used to sleeping in the day and night cycles of our destination. Although these are very drastic changes, the body can get used to them naturally over the course of a few days. In this process, there is a hormone that plays a very important role: melatonin.

Remedies and treatment

While our circadian rhythms are quite flexible, jet lag decreases on its own, without the need for specific treatment, Jet lag decreases on its own, without the need for specific treatment.. It is estimated that for every hour of difference between the country of origin and the country of destination, the body takes a whole day to recover, although this may vary according to the body of each person, as well as according to the specific route followed.

Our circadian rhythms are regulated by a gland found in the center of the brain of all vertebrates, which is responsible for organizing various physiological and neurological processes. This is the pineal gland.

This gland produces and secretes a hormone called melatonin, which plays a central role in the regulation of sleep rhythms.

1. Functions and benefits of melatonin

Among other things, melatonin helps our body to synchronize with natural external cycles (with light and darkness), thus influencing the time it takes us to fall asleep and to stay awake or at rest.

For this reason, it has been a substance that has been investigated a lot recently. Some studies have found that melatonin helps to "reset" the biological clock, i.e. it favors the synchronization of the body's biological clock.that is to say that it favors the synchronization of the circadian rhythms with the schedules of the place of destination.

Being a hormone whose production is inhibited by light, and stimulated in the dark, melatonin intake has more effects when taken at night. In fact, taking melatonin during the day can have the opposite effect (again making it difficult for circadian rhythms to synchronize with natural external cycles).

Melatonin has gained much popularity in recent times, so it can be found in tablets or capsules, although there are many foods that favor its natural production within the body, such as rice, oats, corn, tomato or banana.

Recommendations for prevention

It is important to take the hours of rest that the body asks for.It can even work to take a whole day of rest before starting the work or activities we have planned.

In trips from west to east it is advisable to lengthen the days and avoid light in the mornings; unlike trips made from east to west where it is preferable to avoid any kind of light during the night.

Bibliographical references:

• Sack, R., Auckley, D., Auger, R., et. al. (2007). Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorders: Part I, Basic Principles, Shift Work and Jet Lag Disorders. SLEEP, 30(11): 1460-1483.
• Davidson, A.J., Sellix, M.T., Yamazaki, M., et al. (2006). Chronic jet-lag increases mortality in aged mice. Current Biology, 16(2): R914-R916.
• Herxheimer, A. & Petrie, K. (2002). Melatonin for the prevention and treatment of jet lag. Cochrane Common Mental Disorders Group. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001520
• Petrie, J., Conaglen, L. & Thompson, Ch. (1989). Effect of melatonin on jet lag after long haul flights. The BJM, 298:705 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.298.6675.705