How Smart People can Overcome Jet Lag

This section describes the phenomenon of jet lag and the symptoms associated with it, which vary not only from person to person, but also according to how many times zones are crossed, and in which direction. Two main lines of research are described: the first endeavours to accelerate the adaptation process; the second helps to fight insomnia and sleepiness between arrival and adjustment to the new time zone. Homeostatic and circadian influences on sleep and vigilance are explained on the basis of Borbély's Two-Process Model. The benefits of specifying the remedies for each time zone shift are explained. A strategy of graduated response to jet lag is suggested, from the safest to the most effective. Limitations of these proposals are detailed.

If you better understand what is at stake in jet lag, you will be better able to adjust harmoniously. Jet lag is reasonably well explained scientifically today. Rapid changes of time zones disturb the functioning of your body clock, which remains stubbornly set on departure time for a while. This can make sleep shallow or nonexistent for substantial parts of the night while vigilance is less than optimal during parts of the day. Flying west seems easier than flying east. Jet lag can in some cases be a more serious medical nuisance.

There are many practical things you can do to reduce the burden of jet lag: fast psychological adjustment, exercise, judicious timing of meeting schedules, judicious timing of naps, optimizing your activities in short stay durations, exerting self-discipline, preflight rescheduling and in some cases, sleeping in two parts.

Ideally, we would want to turn our body clock forward or back and reset it to local time as soon as we land. The jet lag problem would disappear instantly and you could throw this book away. Unfortunately, no such mechanism has yet been found. However, the adjustment process can already be speeded up using bright light and melatonin.

Sleepiness mainly comes from a deficit in sleep quantity or quality. From a homeostatic perspective, obtaining enough sleep of good quality is the most determining factor. The circadian perspective explains why your body clock contradicts your wish to sleep at appropriate times once at destination. It may make it difficult to fall asleep (Group A), to wake up (Group C), or both (Group B). Here is what you can do about it, using sleeping pills if needed (benzodiazepines and others).

This chapter reviews the importance of fatigue (sleepiness) as a cause of distress and accidents. It insists on the fact that the best way to avoid it is to sleep enough and well. It presents the stimulants that could help you fight sleepiness if nothing else has worked (caffeine, modafinil).

This chapter presents the differences between travel fatigue and jet lag, and what you could do in the plane.

The Time Zone Sheets in the next chapter explain what to do in each jet lag situation, from West +1 to East -1. This chapter tells you how to find the one that corresponds to your particular trip (outward and return). It also discusses how to finetune your choice of Time Zone Sheet as a function of geography rather than political borders and of your own usual sleep habits.

23 jet lag situations, from West +1 to East -1, are described here. I begin with the specific problems that may be encountered in each case, as well as a list of specific solutions. These solutions start with no-nonsense measures; go on to speeding up the adjustment using bright light and melatonin; then to sleeping pills; and, if nothing else works, to strong doses of caffeine and stimulants. I suggest you use a graduated, step-by-step response and to go to the next level only if you have an insufficient result. I will end with a few comments based on my own experience over the years as a traveller.

The present suggestions are an extrapolation of evidence-based medicine. They have not been extensively field-tested. By completing a survey, you can help me to refine the suggestions for future editions of this book.