Category: General

Flying Across Time Zones? Learn how to Conquer Jet Lag

 

 

Do you travel often? Have you ever wondered why a long flight can make you feel terrible? This condition generally occurs when traveling in the west-east direction and is known as “jet lag.”

West-East

The severity of jet lag is affected by the direction of travel. There seems to be evidence that for most people traveling west to east is more disruptive because they are flying against time zones and therefore are losing time. The greater the number of time zones crossed, the more difficult it is for your body to cope with changes.

Causes of Symptoms

Jet Lag is believed to be caused by disorders of homeostasis – the body’s ability to maintain constant internal parameters (including body temperature, blood pH, osmotic pressure, blood pressure, volume of body fluids, etc.). In short, our body can not keep up with adapting to the rapidly changing times of day, on which our physiology depends (metabolism, sleep-wake cycles, etc.). When we travel westward, we have trouble getting to sleep because the body is not ready to release sleep hormones – cortisol and melatonin.

Symptoms of jet lag

 

  • Sleep disturbance
  • Impaired concentration
  • Extreme fatigue
  • Lack of appetite and digestive problems
  • Disorientation
  • Drowsiness
  • Headaches

 

Tips for surviving the journey

After a few days in a new time zone, our bodies adjust, resolving the symptoms. You can use the following techniques to help reset you body’s clock:

  • Start varying your schedule before you travel
  • Get plenty of rest before leaving and while you are traveling
  • Eliminate consumption of alcohol and caffeine before and during your travel
  • Eat light meals
  • Exercise
  • A helpful way to minimize jet lag is to adapt to the local time and eat accordingly.
  • Also, exposure to sunlight during the day can be helpful.

--
Important:
The Sleep Blog does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Instead, this website provides general information for educational purposes only. Always seek the advice of a qualified health care provider if you have questions or concerns regarding any medical condition or treatment.

Is Earth Influencing Your Dreams?

Have you ever tried looking for an explanation for that bizarre dream you had about loosing your teeth or falling off the top of the building? New research suggests that Earth’s magnetic field may be to blame.

Darren Lipnicki, a psychologist whose work has been published in “Medical Hypotheses”, studied the relation between Earth’s magnetic fields and dreams over a period of 8 years. During that time he wrote every dream he could remember – a total of 2,387 dreams. Then he sorted the dreams into 3 groups.

Group number one contained dreams that were most related to reality (“I’m drinking coffee and reading a newspaper.”) In the second group he put dreams that were possible, but unlikely to happen in real life (“My friend is building a house in my back yard”). In the last group he placed the most bizarre dreams (“I’m walking down the beach with a monkey who speaks a foreign language and a woman who suddenly starts to disappear”).

Dr Lipnicki then gathered data on the Earth’s geomagnetic activity. It turns out that there was a correlation between his dreams and magnetic fields – The strangest dreams occurred when Earth’s magnetic activity was lowest.

Of course it doesn’t mean that the relationship between Earth’s magnetism and dreams has been proven conclusively; “For that you need more extensive testing,” says Lipnicki.

--
Important:
The Sleep Blog does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Instead, this website provides general information for educational purposes only. Always seek the advice of a qualified health care provider if you have questions or concerns regarding any medical condition or treatment.

The Role of Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorders (CRSD)

A person’s circadian rhythm is an internal biological clock that regulates many physiological systems according to an approximate 24 hour cycle. The key feature of a circadian rhythm disorder is an occasional or continuous disruption in sleep patterns. It is often mistaken for Insomnia, especially if the symptoms persist over a longer period of time; however unlike Insomnia patients, people with CRSD usually get required amount of sleep.

Some of the most common circadian rhythm disorders include:

 

Advanced Sleep Pattern Syndrome (ASPS) – Is characterized by early sleeping and waking. People with this disorder feel very sleeping  in the early evening hours (6pm-9pm) and wake up early in the morning (3am-6am). Middle-aged adults and the elderly are more likely to suffer from ASPS.

Treatment: Simply delaying sleep time, at a rate of 1 to 3 hours until desired sleep period is achieved should take care of the problem. In more complicated cases Phototherapy (controlled exposure to intense light) may be required.

Delayed Sleep Pattern Syndrome (DSPS) – Contrary to ASPS, people with DSPS have difficulty in initiating sleep and tend to wake up later. It’s most common among adolescents and young adults. People who suffer from this disorder are often perceived as lazy and unmotivated as they do not perform well in the early morning hours. These individuals are most alert and productive late at night.

Treatment: Maintaining regular hours for sleeping and getting up, using an alarm clock or wake up call service. Similar to ADSP treatment adjusting sleep time until desired sleep period is achieved (ideally 11:00pm- 7am) and bright light therapy may be useful.

Jet Lag– Crossing between two or more time zones can create a conflict between person’s circadian rhythm timing and that of a new time zone. Symptoms, including fatigue and insomnia, are only temporary and usually disappear completely within a week.

Shift Work Disorder– People who work irregular hours (e.g. Truck drivers) or work at night are at bigger risk to suffer from shift work disorder which is often characterized by complaints of insomnia or excessive sleepiness.

Treatment: Some patients find medication to be helpful, antidepressants, which are used in treatment of various sleep disorders are known to positively affect and sometimes readjust circadian rhythm.

By

Agnieszka

--
Important:
The Sleep Blog does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Instead, this website provides general information for educational purposes only. Always seek the advice of a qualified health care provider if you have questions or concerns regarding any medical condition or treatment.