Say Goodbye To Jet Lag

As air travel becomes increasingly common, it is not surprising to see the trend of growing long-distance travellers. Learn more about jet lag in order to prevent debilitating effects from happening.

- Alan Lim

Jet lag is a sleep disorder that is a reaction to traveling between time zones. It can also be caused by shift work. In short, it is a confused and disrupted internal body clock lagging behind the time zone in which people find themselves. Our internal body clock is made up of cells with unique ‘body clock’ genes. These cells tell other parts of the body what time it is and what to do. Jet lag kicks in when this internal body clock is disrupted.

Jet lag is a temporary sleep disorder, but not temporary enough for many travellers. This is because travelling between time zones changes the “morning patterns” and “night patterns” in your environment, thus affecting the body’s rhythms.

The effect of jet lag can be overwhelming enough to affect one’s performance. People suffering from jet lag might experience tiredness, general malaise, poor attention and insomnia.