“While that’s happening, your mood, sleep, digestive system, immune system - basically everything can feel a bit out of whack.” “Your clocks will adjust, but that takes time,” she says. The greater the time shift, the greater the misalignment and confusion. When you jump abruptly from one time zone to another (and start eating, sleeping, and getting sun at times that don’t correspond to when your body’s clocks expect you to), this misalignment creates internal confusion. These clocks operate on a 24-hour light-dark cycle, and depend on natural sunlight and cues like your sleep and mealtimes to stay on track. “For example, about three hours before you wake up, your circadian clock will start to raise your body temperature, raise your cortisol levels, and get you ready to start your day,” she says. These clocks regulate your body’s temperature, its metabolism, its production and release of hormones, and many other important bodily functions, she says. “We have a central circadian clock in the brain, and more recently it was discovered that every cell in the body has its own clock,” says Helen Burgess, PhD, a professor of psychiatry and the codirector of the sleep and circadian research laboratory at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Let’s get back to those “clocks” inside your body. The good news is that there are proven ways to help your body prepare and adjust to a time-zone shift, thus minimizing the effects of jet lag. In rare cases, it may even be persistent or severe enough to warrant medical attention. While jet lag is normal and no cause for concern - pretty much everyone will become jet-lagged if the time difference involved in a trip is large enough - it can be unpleasant. “When there’s a mismatch between the time input from your environment and where your body’s clocks are set, that’s what causes jet lag.” “Jet lag reflects the fact that there are lots of clocks inside our body that regulate a lot of functions, and they all want to be in rhythm,” says Michael Grandner, PhD, an associate professor of medicine and the director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the University of Arizona in Tucson. ![]() ![]() It’s the feeling of fatigue, fuzzy-headedness, and all-around sluggishness that can accompany some types of long-distance travel. If you’ve ever flown across several time zones - from the East Coast to the West Coast, for example, or from the United States to Europe - you’re probably familiar with jet lag.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |