The prevention and treatment of jet lag

doi:10.1136/bmj.326.7384.296

BMJ 2003;326:296-297 ( 8 February )

Editorials

The prevention and treatment of jet lag

It's been ignored, but much can be done

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The jet lag syndrome emerged with the rise of long haul air travel. The symptoms include disturbed sleep, increased fatigue,loss of concentration, and increased irritability during the newdaytime, and yet difficulties in initiating and maintaining sleepat night. Long flights are also often tiring and uncomfortable(travel fatigue), and the dry cabin air contributes to dehydration.These effects can be distinguished from those of jet lag by comparingflights across time zones, for example from Europe to Asia, withflights of similar length along the same meridian, say to southernAfrica, which cause travel fatigue but no jet lag. It is worthtrying to minimise travel fatigue in its own right, and simplepractical advice includes (see box).¹

Jet lag is due to the desynchronisation between various body rhythms and environmental rhythms. The rhythm most noticeablyaffected is the cycle of sleep and activity, with the associatedchanges . . . [Full text of this article]

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