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Overcoming jet lag is fairly easy for people who fly only occasionally, perhaps just a couple of times a year on vacation or for the occasional business trip, but for regular long-haul fliers and aircrews, jet lag frequently brings a number of health problems that can become virtually permanent.

Long-haul travelers will be familiar with the disturbance to their sleep pattern and the insomnia which can result from a long trip, in addition to such things as changes in mood, irritability, stomach problems and difficulty in dealing with information. But, for the very frequent flier these often transient symptoms become a part of everyday life and are frequently joined by menstrual cycle problems for women and even by short-term psychiatric problems for a number of individuals.

The main factors that influence the degree of jet lag that you experience, aside from the frequency of travel, are the distances involved, the direction of travel and your age.

If you are regularly traveling across just two or three world time zones then any affects will probably be very mild. But, as soon as you start to cross more than three world time zones, and particularly when you get up to frequently traveling over six or more time zones, jet lag symptoms start to increase significantly.

The symptoms of jet lag are also far more marked if you travel east and tend to affect you less when flying west. For example, if you travel from London to Singapore on vacation you will experience greater jet lag on arrival in Singapore at the start of your holiday than you will in London when you return home.

Generally when traveling east you can expect that jet lag will last for a few days and a good guide is roughly two thirds of the number of time zones traveled across. For example, if you cross six time zones you may expect jet lag to affect you for about four days. If you are flying west jet lag may be expected to last about half this time.

Age is also an important factor when it comes to jet lag and, as you age, you will find that you are increasingly affected by jet lag.

There is no such thing as a true jet lag cure although there is a great deal that you can do to help to reduce jet lag symptoms.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 21st, 2008 at 4:58 am and is filed under Health.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.