Frequent Fliers Can Learn To Live With Jet Lag

November 9th, 2008 Posted in Airline Flight Insurance

Dealing with jet lag is quite simple for people who only fly once in a while, perhaps once or twice a year on holiday or for the odd business trip, but for aircrews and those of us who fly regularly, jet lag frequently brings a number of health problems that can become almost permanent.

Long-haul fliers will be more than familiar with the disturbance to their pattern of sleep and the insomnia that can be produced by a long trip, in addition to such things as changes in mood, irritability, stomach problems and difficulty in processing information. But, for very frequent fliers these often transient symptoms become a part of daily life and are regularly joined by menstrual cycle problems for women and also by short-term psychiatric difficulties for a few individuals. So how do you go about managing jet lag?

The chief factors which influence the degree of jet lag experienced, aside from how frequently you travel, are the distances involved, the direction in which you travel and your age.

If you are regularly traveling across just one or two world time zones then any affects are likely to be very mild. However, as soon as you begin to cross more than three world time zones, and especially when you get up to frequently traveling over six or more time zones, jet lag symptoms begin to markedly increase.

Jet lag symptoms are also far more marked if you travel east and affect you less when flying west. For example, if you are traveling from London to Singapore on vacation you will experience greater jet lag on arrival in Singapore at the start of your holiday than you will in London when you get home.

As a general rule when you are traveling east you can expect that jet lag will last for a few days and a good guide here is approximately two thirds of the number of time zones traveled across. For instance, if you fly across six time zones you ahould expect jet lag to affect you for about four days. If you are traveling west jet lag may be expected to last for about half of this time.

Another significant consideration when it comes to jet lag is age and, as you get older, you will discover that you are affected more and more by jet lag.

There is no such thing as a true jet lag cure although there is a lot that can be done to help to reduce the symptoms of jet lag.