Dream, fatigueinsomnia and general malaise. These are some of the symptoms that you may have felt after traveling by plane to an area with a different or opposite time zone than your country.
This jet lag, better known as jet lagand its effects, have attracted the attention of the scientific and medical community for more than half a century.
And we keep counting.
Until now, no one has been able to find a miraculous cure for the uncomfortable effects that this syndrome can have on our body.
But can we do something to alleviate its most annoying symptoms?
At BBC Mundo, we compile scientific and medical opinions to prevent the jet lag become an uncomfortable companion on your next trips, whether for pleasure or work.
What is jet lag?
Trace the first time the term was used jet lag It is not a simple task. What is clearer is that The concept began to be used in the 60s.
Commercial airplanes had become popular and more and more people around the world had the possibility of getting on an aircraft to travel to other latitudes.
At that time, the symptoms of this syndrome – whose use is now the voice of the people-, kept the crew members of these new machines that would revolutionize our way of inhabiting the world worried.
Already in 1965, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States was put on alert and requested studies to understand the extent of the effects that changes in the so-called biological clock of the human body were having on the physical and mental health of its crews. .
This discomfort had already become evident among those who operated the aircraft, new passengers, pilots and even high-performance athletes who traveled outside their countries to compete.
These studies revealed that the rapid change between time zones, especially when it comes to transsouthern travel, significantly affects what we commonly know as the biological clock, affecting our basic physiological conditions.
In scientific language, what is also known as circadian rhythmcorresponds to the oscillations of our biological variables in regular time intervals -approximately 24 hours in the case of humans-, which have a crucial impact on the regulation of our periods of sleep and wakefulness.
It is this balance that becomes unbalanced when we cross multiple time zones, having an effect on the habits associated with the regulation of our circadian rhythm such as hours of exposure to light, hours of sleep and meals.
According to the scientific world, The period in which our body adapts and adjusts its functioning to the new time zone is what has been called jet lag. Until now there is some consensus that it takes about one day per time zone crossed by the body to readjust the internal day with the external one.
Why does it occur?
But why does it happen? Doctors and researchers explain that one of the central elements to answer this question is the effect that exposure to light, whether natural or artificial, has on our body.
Professor Russell G. Foster, Director of the Sir Jules Thorn Sleep Neuroscience and Circadian Rhythms Institute (SCNi) at the University of Oxford, explains that “light is incredibly important in adjusting the internal day to the external world”.
The scientist details that our biological clock is critically regulated by light during the day and at night. For the same reason, if our body receives daylight when in reality the biological clock continues to tell it that it should be sleeping -according to the time zone of origin-, a mismatch is generated between the external day and the internal day.
Now, perhaps the most interesting question is Why does it take so long for our body to understand that it is in a different time zone and adjust to the times of destiny.
Professor Russel explains that this is due to a biological “disruption” they discovered when investigating how light affects the molecular clock in the brain.
“This is a biological question that we addressed several years ago: Why doesn’t the clock immediately adjust to the new light/dark cycle? And what we discovered by studying how light interacts with the molecular clock in the brain, is that light triggers a bunch of events that move the clock, but it also triggers the production of a protein called SIK-1 Y. What this protein does is interact with the light pathway and turn it off.“.
“So you actually have a ‘molecular brake’ on the adaptive clock mechanism. The clock starts adjusting and then, bang, SIK-1 kicks in and stops it from moving any further.”
The Oxford University teams believe that the action of this protein has to do with a “buffering mechanism, because it is so important to keep the internal day and the external day aligned, that if there is any strange light, and there usually is, For whatever reason, if you start moving the clock, it could be very damaging.
So, in a sense, what the watch does with the SIK-1 is ask: is this a real signal or not?” Russel explains, adding that once it recognizes that it is a persistent signal over time, only then does the circadian rhythm adapt.
Its main symptoms
The main symptoms of jet lag are: fatigue or excessive tiredness, drowsiness during waking hours, insomnia at night, poor quality of sleep, and problems with concentration and memory. The experts consulted by BBC Mundo also point out that there may be associated mood changes.
According to the United Kingdom’s National Health System (NHS), the jet lag It can also “cause indigestion, nausea, constipation, changes in appetite, and mild anxiety.”
The symptoms will depend on the length of the trip, how drastic the time zone change between the place of origin and destination is, as well as the physical and psychological conditions of each person.
Likewise, the duration of its effects on our body can also vary between individuals.
How can severe symptoms be prevented or alleviated?
There are different ways to partially prevent the effects from being too intense, or to mitigate them if the symptoms present themselves that way when we arrive at our destination.
Among the things that can be done to prevent severe effects, doctors recommend some tips for before, during and after the flight.
For example, the NHS suggests drink significant amounts of water before the trip, in addition to trying to tune in to the sleep habits of the destination time zone.
This, only if the trip will last more than two or three days. Otherwise, the recommendation is not to modify the habits associated with the circadian rhythm to avoid making a double adjustment in a limited time.
Russel, however, points out that the most relevant thing to appease the jet lag It is exposing yourself to the right light at the destination.
The scientist explains that “If you’re traveling west, look for morning light; if you’re traveling east, avoid morning light in the new time zone, but look for afternoon light, and that will help you adapt faster.”
During the flight, the NHS recommends taking frequent breaks for long trips, that is, changing position, getting up and stretching your arms and legs, allowing circulation to improve and avoiding thrombosis.
All of the above, however, does not impact our circadian rhythm and, therefore, is not something that will help us readjust the biological clock. What it does do is give us greater well-being when we arrive at our destination.
Drugs, on the other hand, can also become allies if severe symptoms of jet lag, although doctors call for using them with caution.
One of the ideas that has become popular among travelers is to take hormones that regulate sleep such as melatonin. However, doctors and health organizations worldwide have warned that there is not enough evidence of its benefits in these contexts.
Regarding the sleeping pillsthe NHS warns that they can help with insomnia caused by jet lagbut at the same time it reveals that it has significant side effects and that they are addictive.
“They are sedative, they don’t have much impact on the biological clock, but they can help you sleep in the new time zone,” says Russel.
Likewise, he points out that drinking alcohol before or during the flight does not help alleviate the symptoms of jet lag. In fact, it does the opposite.
The expert warns that if it is known that the trip will not allow us to adapt sufficiently, we must assume that our judgment will be affected. For the same reason, it recommends Avoid making important decisions or giving conferences without having time to rest and adapt after landing.
The teams led by Russel have made progress in the development of a drug that blocks the protein that slows down the adaptation of the biological clock. In fact, they passed the first stage of clinical trials in mice and received approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
If they can move forward with clinical trials in humans, perhaps that will be the answer to ending this uncomfortable syndrome.