Surviving Jet-Lag - The Responsible Human

In this article you will learn some potent hacks to use to bounce back to your optimal performance self faster. Before we dive into the hacks, let us first understand what jet-lag is and how it affects human body.

Circadian Rhythm 101

All living organisms have an internal master clock in the brain that coordinates their biological clocks., keeping them in sync. Every tissue and organ in our body hasa biological clock, which keeps it running according to a schedule. Circadian rhythm is one type of biological clock.

Circadian rythm is closely tied with the sleep-wake cycle and also with eating habits, digestion, body temperature and other important bodily funtions such as hormone release.

When our circadian rythm is out of whack, it can result in health conditions such as sleep issues, fat gain and depression.

And, that is what happens when we fly through multiple time zones. The time has changed but our internal clocks and circadian rythm cannot match the changing pace and they reset gradually, resulting in issues such as daytime sleepiness, fatigue, decreased alterness and performance.

Disruption of circadian rythm is one problem, other things that also need to be considered are radiation exposure, production of free radicals (due to disconnection from Earth’s natural magnetic field), risk of blood clots, dehydration from altitude, bad water which you need to be careful not only when travelling multiple timezones but even during short air travel.

Now, as we have good handle on the reasons to protect oursleves from the damaging effects of air travel, let’s explore some easy to implement ways to achieve that.

Before flight

Avoid caffeine and alcohol

Both caffeine and alcohol act as central nervous system stimulants and can aggrevate the effects of circadian rythm disruption if ingested before/during the flight.

Hydration

As the air in the plane will be dry it causes dehydration which can lead to several issues such as dry skin, scratchy eye and even respiratory issues. The last thing you want do is catch your flight while already dehydrated. So chug up a bottle of water before boarding.

Compression Socks/Tights

Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) is condition in which blood clots are formed in veins. According to this revieew of multiple studies, the risk of VTE is substantially increased when the distance travelled is more than 500 miles or flight duration exceeds 8 hours.

The same review mentions that wearing below knee compressions stockings is effective in preventing this condition.

*Deep Vein Thrombosis or Blood Clots. Embolus. Image Credit: Sakurra / Shutterstock*

In Flight

Hydration

As already mentioned above, airplane environment is quite dehydrating for the human body and thus staying hydrated on the plane becomes an extremely important thing to do.

Do not depend on the tiny water cups and make sure to drink enough water (1 bottle per hour or so) to stay hydrated.

Don’t worry, those trips to the washroom are going to benefit you only as your body gets some movement as well ;).

Fasting

If you can, fasting during the flight in one of the best hacks to keep jet lag at bay.

One of the reasons is that in food is one of the important factors in managing circadian rythm.

Fasting during trave and then eating the first meal at the destination according to local time can help you reset your circadian rythm faster.

Not to mention other benefits you get from this such as Autophagy (cell cleanup) and you get to avoid the unhealthy airplane food.

If you want to go more deep in experimenting with food, take a look at the jet-lag diet that starts preparing your body for the timezone change using a FEAST-FAST-FEAST-FAST cycle.

Mobility

There is enough evidence in the anti-aging community that sitting for a long time can age the body much faster than it should. That, plus you need to keept blood flowing.

In addition to getting some movement by making trips to the washroom, checkout out these simple stretches that you can do sitting on your seat.

Sleep/Nap

Consider strategically napping for 20, 40, 60 or 90 minutes depending on what local time you are going to reach the destination.

Nap early in the flight is reaching everning/night and later part of the travel if landing early in the morning.

Consider using sleep music, a good sleep mask, comfortable neck pillow, ear plugs and blue light blocking glasses to help you fall asleep easily on the plane.

And yes, manage that hydration accordingly. You do not want to wake in the middle of your nap to go to the washroom 🙂

After landing

Grounding

What is Grounding/Earthing?
Simply put it is exposing your body to the natural magentic frequencies released by Earth.

Why ground?
Dave Asprey, the father of biohacking, explains in his book Head Strong as follows:

“When you go up in an aeroplane, you build up a static charge in your body that slows the mitochondrial function. In other words, the battery in your body doesn’t hold a charge as well because you were disconnected from the earth”

How to Ground?
The simplest way to ground is exposing yourself to the earth (grass or sand) barefoot as soon as possible after landing. This could mean just going for a barefoot walk in a park.

You do not have to stop there, various studies show that grounding everyday leads to less stress and better immune system function.

The explanation for that deserves its own article and will be covered in a future one. On a high level, we build up a lot of positive charge due to electrical exposure (airplane, daily cell-phone use, wifi, microwave), this positive charge needs to be neutralized with negative ions that we absorb when touching ground. These negative ions make us feel calm and relaxed.

Exercise

Another important factor to reset circadian rythm is exercise.

Once you reach, make sure to get some movement in. It does not mean you have to get a hard workout done. Getting a walk, brisk walk, swimming, yoga counts is enough.

One thing to make sure is to not to exercise later in the day (preferable 4 hours before bed) as it can increase your body temperature and mess an already messed up circadian rythm.

Caffeine

A 2018 study found that giving 300mg of slow-release caffeine to travellers travelling eastward enhanced alterness. But, also resulted in jet-lag induced insomnia.

Based on that what I would do and suggest is if you are landing at your destination in morning time, caffeine can help you stay awake, alert and focused until it is bedtime in your local timezone. Make sure the caffeine is ingested before 12 PM (as half life of caffeine is 6 hours meaning half of the caffeine is still in your system after 6 hours). If not possible before 12 PM, the next morning take it next morning.

Be careful in caffeine consumption and do not overdo it since there are multiple sources of it (coffee, tea, soda, energy drink, chocolate etc.)

Melatonin

Melatonin is a hormone that is created by the brain and makes us sleepy.

When you travel through timezones your brain (Pineal Gland) does not secrete this sleep-inducing antioxidant hormone at the time it should (around 2 hours before bed).

You can implement all the hacks we discussed in this article to help yourself make some melatonin after Sunset.

For first few days you can also take a 3-5 mg melatonin supplement 30 min to 2 hours before bed to reset your circadian rythm.

Melatonin supplements (which yo can get any health store or even airports) should not be used for long time as they can make brain produce less of it naturally.

A review of evidence base for melatonin mentions in its conclusion: “The use of melatonin by healthy adults shows promise to prevent phase shifts from jet lag and improvements in insomnia, but to a limited extent.”

Oxytocin

What is it?
Oxytocin is a powerful hormone that lifts your mood, acts as an anti-oxidant, anti-depressant and anti-inflammatory.

It is a hormone that plays key role in social bonding as well. It helps us trust other people.

How and when is it created in our bodies?
Oxytocin is commonly known to be produced after sex and also when mothers breastfeed babies.

Well, but that is not something you are gonna do as soon as you land after that long flight right?

One other way that produces oxytocin is Hugging.

Psychologist Tiffany Field, director of the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami School of Medicine explains that when we hug or cuddle with someone, they stimuate pressure receptors under our skin that leads to a relaxation response thoughout the body, causing a decreased heart rate and a decrease in stress hormones cortisol and norepinephrine.

That also means, that the hug has to be tight enough (not too tight though).

Now in the current times of Coronavirus and Covid-19, it might be difficult to do once your reach your destination.

Checkout this interesting study “Huggable communication medium decreases cortisol levels” which says that communicating to your partner (or loved ones) over phone while hugging a human-shaped cushion has the same effect.

So, before bed, you could try talking to your loved one while hugging such device (or a normal pillow) for 15-20 min to get the amazing oxytocin benefits.

I really hope what you just learned will help you or your loved ones to reduce the damage done by air travel and recover from jet lag fast.

As I will be travelling through multiple timezones myself in around 2 weeks, I plan to implement the above measures to fight jet lag. Stay tuned for my update on how it goes.

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