what causes jet lag?

Answer 1

Biological clock gets upset!!!! Timing to sleep/wake/eat/work etc...body fatigues with mixed signals out of the usual habit cycle!!! That's it in a nut shell.

Answer 2

When traveling across a number of time zones, the body clock goes out of sync with the destination time, and so it experiences daylight and darkness contrary to the rhythms it has grown accustomed to. The body's natural pattern therefore becomes upset as the rhythms which dictate when you should eat and sleep no longer correspond to the environment of your destination.

Jet lag occurs because the body cannot automatically realign these rhythms. The speed at which the body readjusts itself to new daylight, darkness hours, and eating and sleeping patterns is entirely dependent upon the individual. Thus, while it may take a few days for certain people to readjust to a new time zone, others seem to experience little disruption to their body's natural sleeping pattern.

The symptoms of jet lag can be quite varied, though on the whole, an individual may experience the following:

Dehydration and loss of appetite
Headaches and/or sinus irritation
Fatigue
Disorientation and/or grogginess
Nausea and/or upset stomach
Insomnia and/or highly irregular sleep patterns
Irritability, Irrationality
Dr Neil Stanley, past chairman of the British Sleep Society, sounded (4/2006) a note of warning over jet lag due to large time differences. He said: [1]

If you are frequently changing time zone or working long hours or shifts, you do start working at only 60 to 70% of your potential. You lose concentration, you lose judgement, you lose reaction - so [e.g.] as a politician you are not going to be on top of your game, to be honest.

The maximum jet lag a person can experience is 12 hours. If the difference in time between two places is greater than 12 hours, subtract that number from 24. For example, there is a 16 hour time difference between Los Angeles, California (standard time) and Hong Kong. Thus, 24 − 16 = 8 hours of jet lag. The person will incur the same amount of jet lag as someone traveling between London and Los Angeles, where the actual time difference is 8 hours. Disregard the difference in date if flying across the International Date Line.

The condition is not linked to the length of flight, but to the transmeridian (i.e. East-West) distance traveled. Hence a ten-hour flight between Oslo and Johannesburg is less inducive of jet lag than a five-hour flight between New York and Los Angeles. There is no firm agreement as to which direction of travel is worse. Some believe that traveling east is worse as it "accelerates" the passage through various time zones (a night might only last 3 hours when flying east), and because the symptoms of traveling west, such as waking earlier in the morning, can be easier to integrate with ordinary life. Others counter that the impact is worse when one travels away from one's "habitual" time zone, and is minimised when returning to it.

Although technically incorrect, the term jet lag is sometimes used in conversation to describe the general exhaustion of traveling, even if there is no change in time zone.

Answer 3

With long trips, you don't "sleep" on the plane. You think you sleep but it's not the same deep sleep as if you were in your own bed and then, when you get to your destination, you are so hyped that you don't feel tired. There's also the time zone thing...It may be supper time for them but breakfast if you were at home. That's why Vegas is such a great destination. They accomodate "your time". Everything is open 24 hours a day so you can have supper at 5 in the morning their time.

Answer 4

time

jet lag is your body having to adjust to being in a different time zone - i am in australia so if i fly to london then my body is 9 hours ahead of everyone else's bodies so when they are having lunch i would be wanting to go to bed

Answer 5

Usually starts with flying long distances.........,i wish i hadnt bothered now not with that collosal contribution above me

Answer 6

mainly the crossing of time zones

Answer 7

BIG JETS !