Going to the end of the world is a dream. Except when the jet lag makes you misery! Insomnia, fatigue… How to reduce its effects? Responses from a pro.
Waking up at 3 a.m. and no longer succeeds in closing your eye, sleeping at 3 p.m., suffering from nausea, headache. Are you in the middle of Jet-Lag? We have solutions for you.
The Jet-Lag in 5 questions
We asked our questions to Doctor Albert Lachman, sleeping with the King’s Garden Medical Center in Brussels.
What is the jet lag?
“Jet-lag is a phenomenon caused by the fact that we travel faster than the rotation of the earth, which creates a jet lag. By passing from the spindles-clocks, we find ourselves at a destination that does not respect our biological clock. This discrepancy is variable depending on the distance that we travel towards the East or west.”
What consequences of this discrepancy for humans?
“The Jet-Lag can cause physical discomfort (digestive, nausea, headache, abnormal fatigue, irritability, etc.). It also has a socio-professional impact: in the event of a business trip for example, we find ourselves in meetings at very undue hours, which can be very disabling.”
Why is it more complicated to travel to the East?
“You should know that our biological clock is not set over 24 hours but on average over 24.3 hours. Basic, so we already have a spontaneous tendency to the lag late. In the morning, we are exposed to light and our biological clock is recovering. So when we travel to the west, we will have more ease to adapt, since we will go to bed later, which is already our natural trend. Because we shift even more against our natural biological clock. ”
How long does it take to recover from a lag jet?
“To the west, we estimate that we recover an hour of discrepancy per day. So if we have a gap of 6 hours, we will take about 6 days to be adapted to the local time. If we travel to the east, it takes 1.5 days per hour of offset (count 9 days).
It is advisable to gradually shift the week preceding the trip.
Before leaving, we can gradually prepare these discrepancies. To avoid undergoing too many effects on arrival, it is advisable to gradually shift the preceding week, going to sleep and getting up more and later (if we travel to the west) and vice versa if we travel to the east. ”
On site, how to calm their effects?
“As soon as you are on the plane, you have to change your watch and your smartphone time at the time of the destination and adapt to the local timetable in terms of meals. Arriving in the west, you have to make sure to expose yourself well to the light, so that it gives the brain the message that we are still in broad daylight. A short nap (maximum 2 hours) can be useful in case of intense fatigue. Write from daylight avoiding being stimulated.
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