A TRAVEL expert has revealed a simple hack to ensure you’re prepared for your long haul flight.
Savvy researchers shared the trick to teach frequent flyers a way to revolutionise their travel.
If you don’t fancy suffering from the inevitable long haul jet lag, make sure you eat a big breakfast for a few days after you land.
Jet lag is caused by a difference between the body’s internal clock -or circadian rhythm, and the surrounding environment.
Experts found as well as getting your Vitamin D fix, eating a huge breakfast three days in a row while skipping dinner means your jet lag drops by a whopping 44%.
The Chaos journal found a link between meal times and body’s internal health.
Yitong Huang, from Northwestern University said: “Meal timing is important for circadian health, particularly as we now know almost every cell has a circadian clock which can be influenced by cues such as light or eating.”
Dr Huang said: “Constantly shifting meal schedules or having a meal at night is discouraged, as it can lead to misalignment between internal clocks.”
Dr Jamie Zeitzer from Stanford University, who was not a part of this study said: “By eating a large breakfast early in the morning, you’re helping to reset your gut clock.
“These peripheral oscillators (the circadian rhythms in the body’s cells) can often shift faster than the central one in the brain, and that helps shorten the period when you might experience jet lag.”
Dr. Huang continued: “Conflicting signals – for example, eating when your brain is about to rest – can confuse internal clocks and cause desynchrony.”
And a simple hack for blocking out light is opting for blackout curtains, but if you don’t have access, a sleeping mask will do the trick.
The study found that it takes a staggering total of five days for a traveller’s circadian clock to completely adjust to a six hour time difference flying west.
They found that it takes an extra day for a flyer to adapt when travelling eastbound with the same time difference
And for older adults, it may take even longer – seven and nine days respectively.
Dr Zeitzer also explained that if you’re a frequent flyer – you’re in luck as you usually would have learned to cope with jet lag by now.
He added: “For some people, it might be having an alcoholic beverage to help them fall asleep. Even though that’s not ideal, if it helps them sleep, I’m not opposed to that.
“For others, it might be yoga or a morning run. So when you travel, try to pay attention to what works and what doesn’t.”
But he stressed that it’s not just food and drink habits travellers need to take into account.
A SLEEP expert has revealed the best way to cure jet lag and explained why flying east is more tiring than going west.Professor Leon Lack from Australia’s Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health shared the tips in time for holiday season.
The sleep expert from Flinders University revealed that the ticket to a jet lag free flight is light therapy.
According to the professor, the “strongest tool” for readjusting your body clock is “bright light”.
Leon told the Mail: “Jet lag can be overcome more quickly after westward flights by visual exposure to light (white or blue/green-biased light) in the late afternoon and evening.
“If the destination is experiencing sunny weather then outdoor light up until sundown is helpful”.
He then went on to explain that in the wintry and earlier sunset times of the year, a bright blue or green light would be helpful for curing a nightmare jet lag.
Holidaymakers can access this bright coloured light through a device called Re-Timer, Leon explained, which is a pair of portable light therapy glasses.
As well as light therapy, the expert also recommended a low dose of melatonin as a handy cure for jet lag.
He suggested taking between 0.5mg to 1mg of melatonin when you’re heading to bed as it can act as a mild sedative without the nasty side effects.
The professor then warned of remedies to avoid as they could be more harmful than helpful to your bodyclock.
He urged flyers to not take midday naps after the flight as this could turn into a full eight-hour sleep during the day – which would then keep you up all night.
“Save your sleepiness for the destination nighttime,” he advised.
The sleep expert also revealed why flying east is more tiring than travelling west and it all boils down to the time differences.
When flying east you travel over many time zones which ultimately means you “lose” additional time.
He explained that when flying east, you’re basically travelling forwards in terms of hours and days, and once you arrive at your destination you’re ahead of yourself which requires your body to adjust.
But on flying west, Leon said: “Flying in a westward direction across time zones requires delaying the body clock in order to synchronise with the destination clock”.
Menawhile, another sleep expert revealed his foolproof tricks for getting the best kip on your flight.
One more exert explained how travellers can avoid becoming jetlagged on their next long haul flight.
And a flight attendant revealed five holy grail tips for avoiding jet lag on holiday.
“Getting sunlight first thing is also great. Especially if you’re flying eastward, it’s a good thing to get that kind of big dose of sunlight that helps reset the circadian clock.
“Even if it’s cloudy or overcast, you get way more helpful light going outside than you could ever get from indoor lighting.”
He also advised: “Toughing it out is not a good plan – that sometimes makes it a lot worse.”
While he is fine with people taking supplements that have been prescribed to them by a doctor to help with sleep, such as melatonin, you must time it properly.
He hails melatonin as an effective sleep aid but says it’s all down to timing.
The Mayo Clinic advises that if you are flying eastwards and want to reset your internal clock to an earlier time zone, take it nightly.
But if you fly west and want to reset it to a later schedule, take it every morning until you adjust to the new time zone.
