Trifter

The problem with jets is also the good thing about jets. They get you where you are going in a hurry. In fact, if you are traveling several thousand miles by jet, the jet will get you to yours destination while leaving your natural internal clock a few time zones behind. If you are on vacation, you may not notice this as much as a business traveler would.

Your internal clock is set for you to be awake at a certain time, and feel the need to sleep 12 or 15 hours later. If you leave the eastern coast of the United States at 5 am by jet, you will arrive in Los Angeles about 6 or 7 hours later at at 8 or 9 am in California. That does not seem so bad. However, 7 hours later at 3 or 4 in the afternoon, you will be about ready for bed. Of course you will not go to bed until 10 pm or after. You will wake up at about 3 am with your body believing it is time to get up.

This means that if you cross 3 time zones, you really need 3 or 4 days to get your body back on track. With a short business trip of two or three days, Your body will just be starting to adjust to the difference in time, but now it is time to go back to New York and start the process again. If you are a frequent east/west flier, your body will never get in rhythm with the world. You will feel tired a lot and rarely be in peak form. As you age, these adjustments get more difficult.

Flying 18 or 20 hours over many time zones can make jet lag so rough that people sometimes take several days off before doing anything meaningful after they arrive. The alternative is to do what presidents have always done in the jet age. They schedule multiple stops with meetings to be able to adjust on the way. When they reach their final destination, the recovery time is brief because they have given their bodies time to get used to the time differences.

People who work all week on a certain schedule and then throw it out for the weekend will feel the same effect as jet lag. No one worries too much about jet lag when you are just staying up later. However, Monday morning, after late weekend nights followed by late sleeping, can seem really awful because you have trashed your sleep rhythms. It can take some people until Wednesday before they operate at full capacity again