Sunshine to meal times: How to beat jet lag

Jet lag is the feeling you experience when your body clock struggles to adjust to a new local time after traveling across several time zones. Dr. Nina Rzechorzek, who researches human brain temperature, sleep, and circadian rhythms at the University of Cambridge, explains that your internal biological time initially stays aligned with your home time zone.

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After rapid travel across several time zones, your internal biological time initially stays aligned with home while you are trying to sleep, eat, and function on destination time.

This temporal mismatch leads to a range of uncomfortable symptoms. "That mismatch can cause disturbed sleep, daytime sleepiness, poor concentration, irritability, reduced performance, and digestive problems," Dr. Rzechorzek states. Essentially, your body is still operating on the schedule of where you just departed, while you are trying to function at your destination.

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That mismatch can cause disturbed sleep, daytime sleepiness, poor concentration, irritability, reduced performance, and digestive problems.

The phenomenon is intrinsically linked to our circadian rhythms, often referred to as the body's internal clock. Dr. Anna Edmondson from the University of Cambridge's Laboratory of Molecular Biology notes that nearly every cell in the body possesses its own 24-hour clock. These are synchronized by a master clock in the brain.

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Almost all the cells in our body maintain their own 24-hour clock, which are synchronised by a master clock in the brain.

"The master clock is set to environmental timing cues, one of the most important cues being daily cycles in sunlight and darkness," Dr. Edmondson explains. When you travel rapidly east or west, these cycles abruptly change. It takes several days for the master clock to recalibrate to the new time, resulting in the disorienting effects of jet lag.

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The master clock is set to environmental timing cues, one of the most important cues being daily cycles in sunlight and darkness.