Will Jet Lag Ruin The Start Of Your Vacation?

The summer holiday season is with us again andfly across four or more time zones then the
many thousands of us will be jetting off to far flungdifference will be noticeable and your body clock will
corners of the globe to lie on a tropical beach andtake longer and longer to adjust as you cross more
soak up the sun, to trek through some of world'sand more time zones.
most beautiful wilderness countryside, to see someIn our example of flying from Sydney to London
of the architectural wonders of the world or toyour body clock will take several days to adjust itself
simply explore new countries and cultures. And,fully and, in the meantime, you are likely to find
unfortunately, many thousands of us will find the firstyourself suffering from insomnia, finding it difficult to
few days of our vacation will also see us trying toget to sleep at night and to get up in the morning,
recover from the effects of jet lag.feeling tired during the day, possibly experiencing
But is jet lag an inevitable part of modern long-hauldifficulty in eating with nausea, stomach upset, a
travel?feeling of dehydration, a headache, and much more.
The answer to this question depends very much onSo what can be done?
where you are flying to. If you start your journey inThere are a whole variety of 'traditional' remedies for
Sydney, Australia and fly to Tokyo, Japan then youjet lag including diets, formulas, over-the-counter
will not experience any jet lag at all because, evenmedication, sleeping pills, melatonin and others and
though you are flying some 7,000 miles, your journeyeach has its supporters and detractors, but are these
essentially takes you due north so that your starting'traditional' remedies the answer?
point and destination lie in the same time zone.The simple answer to this question is no. These
However, if you fly from Sydney to London, England'traditional' remedies do not work and, in some cases,
then you will fly east to west across ten standardwill actually make your jet lag worse.
time zones and you will certainly experience jet lag.Treating jet lag is not a matter of pills and formulas,
Jet lag is really nothing more than the result of yourbut requires you to devise a plan centered on your
own internal body clock being out of synchronizationspecific travel plans and lifestyle which allows you to
with local time and, while your body clock can adjustassist your body's natural process of adjusting its
itself to come into line with local time, adjusting yourown internal body clock. This means taking a series
body clock takes time.of steps in preparation for your journey, as well as
If you fly across just two or three time zones thenduring your flight and at your destination. In some
the time difference experienced is small enough thatcases these will be enough to help you avoid jet lag
you probably will not really notice it greatly and youraltogether and, in others, they will certainly help to
internal clock will adjust quite quickly. However, if youreduce the effects of jet lag considerably.