Jet Lag Is Part Of Life For Frequent Fliers

Dealing with jet lag is not too difficult for people who only fly once in a while, perhaps once or twice a year on holiday or for the occasional business trip, but for aircrews and those of us who fly regularly, jet lag frequently brings several health problems that can become more or less permanent.

Long-haul travelers will be more than familiar with the disturbance to their sleep pattern and the insomnia that can result from a long trip, as well as things like irritability, changes in mood, gastro-intestinal problems and difficulty in dealing with information. But, for very frequent fliers these often transient symptoms become a part of daily life and are habitually joined by menstrual cycle problems for women and also by short-term psychiatric disturbances for some people. So how do you go about managing jet lag?

The key factors which influence the degree of jet lag experienced, apart from the frequency of travel, are the distances involved, the direction in which you travel and how old you are.

If you regularly travel across just one or two world time zones then any affects are likely to be very mild. But, once 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 markedly increase.

The symptoms of jet lag are also much more noticeable when you travel east and affect you less if you fly west. If you travel from London to Singapore on holiday for example you will experience greater jet lag when you arrive in Singapore at the beginning of your holiday than you will in London when you get home.

As a general rule when traveling east you can expect jet lag to last for several days and a good guide is about two thirds of the number of time zones crossed. For example, if you travel across six time zones you can expect jet lag to affect you for roughly four days. If you are flying west jet lag may be expected to last for about half this time.

Another major factor when it comes to jet lag is age and, as you get older, you will find that you are increasingly affected by jet lag.

A true jet lag cure does not exist but there is a great deal that can be done to help to reduce jet lag symptoms.