Introduction
[License: Public Domain]:
Pixabay I’ve always wondered why we are more likely to feel sleepy at night and can afford to stay awake during the day. I was particularly intrigued why people who travel across numerous timezones experience jet lags.
A good knowledge of geography lets us know that we can only be said to cross timezones if we move east to west or west to east. We do not particularly cross timezones when we move north to south or south to north.
You take a journey which requires you to cross as many as eight timezones and you certainly arrive at your destination feeling tired, having sleep and stomach disturbances, an unwell feeling and a lack of concentration. Well, you may have just experienced jet lag
You only got to experience this cause traveling across so many timezones and gaining or losing time in the process has confused your biological clock. We have many biological clocks but here I am talking about the circadian rhythm.
I decide When You Sleep and How Long You Stay Awake Says The Circadian Rhythm.
[License: CC-BY-SA 3.0, Author: YasmineMrabet]:
Wikicommons The circadian rhythm is chief decider of when you fall asleep and why you stay awake. It is majorly controlled by zeitgebers. These zeitgebers are environmental factors that influence our biological 24 hours day/night cycle. The body however has a master clock that determines the circadian rhythm.
This master clock is located in the hypothalamic region of the brain. Popularly known as the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), this aggregation of over 20,000 neurons works in tandem with the retina via the retinohypothalamic tract to determine when there’s daylight and when there isn’t.
When the eyes are exposed to sunlight, the photosensitive cells popularly known as melanopsin present in the retina detects this sunlight and relays information to the SCN. Since we tend to be exposed to sunlight at specific times during the day, the SCN stores that time using it in setting our 24 hour light/dark cycle.
The SCN on getting the information from the retina tells the pineal gland to reduce its secretion of melatonin (a hormone which causes us to sleep) to keep us awake. Correspondingly, during the night time, the secretion of melatonin increases as the SCN receives less information from the retina. It therefore tells the pineal gland to secrete more so we can easily call it a day.
A circadian rhythm is established as this happens within a 24 hour period. So our body tells us to sleep at roughly the same time and wakes us up at almost the same time everyday.
Basically every cell has a circadian rhythm although not totally in relation to sleeping and staying awake. The circadian rhythm also helps in controlling metabolism as cells know that they have to release nutrients into blood while we are sleeping to enable us stay alive during that period. The body also knows to increase its body temperature as we approach so as to make us much more metabolically active and more likely to wake and stay awake.
So If The Body Has an Internal Clock, Doesn’t it Make Sense to Suffer Consequences When We Cross Timezones Rapidly ?
[License: Public Domain]:
Wikicommons Okay. Your body knows when to sleep and when to wake up. Quite amazing I’ll say but unfortunately, the earth is not static and The Sun doesn’t have an on and off switch so basically, we can’t have days and nights at the same time across all portions of the earth.
Let’s imagine you are going on a 9 hour journey to a region that is 6 hours ahead of your place of departure in time. You decided to leave by 4 pm and well, your biological clock expects you to arrive by 1 am so all it’s metabolic processes and temperature regulation are carried out in the aim of having you asleep at the end of your journey,
But the gag is, you’ll end up arriving at 7 am. Your body however is not in sync with this and has already prepared towards your sleep according to its schedule. You want to be awake but sleep is inevitable as melatonin has already been secreted in high amounts, body temperature has already been tuned down and metabolic processes have been slowed down. In this state, you are considered to be jet lagged. It will also only make sense to say now that if we didn’t have biological clocks we wouldn’t experience jet lags. Rightly so.
The body has to adjust to its new time zone and this can take days to weeks. It is widely thought that it is much harder to recover from jet lags that result as a consequence of traveling eastwards than the opposite. This is due to the fact that the body has to advance its clock after an eastward journey which is considerably harder as opposed to having to delay it after traveling westwards which is considerably easier.
So How Can We Prevent JetLags ?
[License: CC-BY 2.0, Author: Ged Carroll]:
Flickr Since light is the chief controller of the circadian rhythm, regulating your exposure to light could be instrumental in controlling JetLags as you can adjust your biological clock in preparation for the timezone of your new destination.
It is especially important to avoid alcohol and caffeine while traveling across timezones as they can disrupt sleeping patterns making your jet lag worse than it should be.
Changing the time on your watch to the time of your destination can also be helpful as it prepares your mind for the shock you are supposed to receive and this can act as a good starting point in reducing jet lag.
Taking oral supplements of melatonin is also important where you need to sleep desperately especially when your body is fighting sleep as a function of your circadian rhythm.
Final Thoughts
Moving rapidly across different timezones could come with consequences as your circadian rhythm is messed up in the process. The SCN is central to the circadian rhythm and is implicated in the development of jet lags.
References
Jet Lag. Retrieved on June 5th, 2018. Why We Get Jet Lags. Retrieved on June 5th, 2018. How Jet Lag Occurs. Retrieved on June 5th, 2018. Circadian Rhythm. Retrieved on June 5th, 2018. Image Sources I'm a proud member of the steemstem community which promotes quality posts in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields on the steem blockchain mainly through interaction and engagement. Feel free to join us on discord here
All images are licensed under creative commons and eligible for commercial use.
Hi @kingabesh
We have selected your post as post of the day for our DaVinci Times. Our goal is to help the scientific community of Steemit, and even if our vote is still small we hope to grow in quickly! You will soon receive our sincere upvote! If you are interested in science follow us sto learn more about our project.
Immagine CC0 Creative Commons, si ringrazia @mrazura per il logo ITASTEM.
CLICK HERE AND VOTE FOR DAVINCI.WITNESS
Keep in mind that for organizational reasons it’s necessary to use the “steemstem” and “davinci-times” tags to be voted again.
Greetings from @davinci.witness and the itaSTEM team.
I approve the science behind it, you know I am a sleep freak and studied a lot about it.
I have a very strange sleep cycle and I don't experience jetlag. I haven't traveled a lot yet, but I can sleep at any hour of day and night and fall asleep and I usually sleep 6 hours per night. Also traveling on a plane means sleep time for me :) So when I get to my destination, I am already rested and because I usually sleep at off hours I think my circadian rhythm is used to this.
Just my 2 cents, your article is very in depth and comprehensive.
Good job on writing it.
Unrelated: What is sndbox? I keep seeing people writing in it but haven't actually researched it.
I am almost the polar opposite. I can never sleep on planes and feel pretty bad for a few days if I have to change the time I sleep/ wake up. A few years ago my rhythms were more ' flexible', I had trained my body that it needed to make it to the nightclub at 3 AM
Same here @flyyingkiwi! As for the first part of your comment.
Surprisingly not everyone experiences jetlags. There are genes that are responsible for jet lag; The Lhx1 gene. These genes are mutated in some people and they can’t experience jet lags. You just might be one of them @alexdory.
Will read about the Lhx1 gene!
Along with my three kidneys, that would explain a lot of why at the end of a clubnight I would be sober and awake :D
Because you are a mutant @alexdory! 😂😘
I was not kidding about the kidneys!
It's not something to say at parties, I know, but it's pretty common as the doctors say! 😂
Oh! I see... gosh ... and here I go, learning yet something else from you :D (that 3 kidneys can occur naturally!) 😊
Well explained but I really do not know if the circadian rhythm is solely responsible for those jetlag symptoms you highlighted. If such is the case, people whose jobs require night-shifts should be experiencing the same symptoms. Have you heard about motion sickness? I think that could also be in play as far as the symptoms you mentioned are concerned.
If the circadian rhythm is actually true to details, why then do people sleep during the day?
I think that the circadian rhythm is at play, but as I said in the other comment, it's not solely responsible.
Plus individual people have a stronger or weaker circadian rhythm.
Yeah the night-shift sleep disorder is also a type of jet lag and yes people who work shifts experience jet lag. I have heard of motion sickness and some of the symptoms I highlighted are seen there too. I’ve also done well to highlight that those symptoms may be indicative of jet lag but it doesn’t go as much to confirm jet lag.
The circadian rhythm doesn’t solely regulate sleep. Sleep Homeostasis also comes into play when we’ve not had enough sleep and compensates for lost sleep basically by making us sleep during the day. So yes this is why we sleep during the day.
Very informative. I bet many travelers experience jet lag especially in long haul flights. Thanks for the write up :)
Yeah they do. Thanks for finding this worthy of your read
Interesting to understand what causes jetlags.
In my case I didn't experience a jetlag when traveling to Europe, but I know it is a very common thing especially when the time zones are very different between both countries.
I really enjoyed your article mate, cheers!
thanks man. i am glad you enjoyed it. nice to know you did not experience jetlags when traveling to europe
I find your post really valuable. I learnt more on the circadian rhythm.
#bigwaves
thanks. i am glad you did
Hello @kingabesh :)
You have explained this SO very well (and in a very straight-forward way). I do not drink alcohol when I travel; but I do drink extra coffee. Silly me. I really suffer from jet-lags, and I am one of those people who need a few days to recover.
I will pass on the tips you left here to a couple of friends that have this issue too. They travel waayyy more than I do and will appreciate it very much.
Have a wonderful evening :)
Oh that will be great (passing on the tips to your friends). I’m glad you found my post interesting and easy to digest. I hope you suffer less jetlags and try to stay away from coffee while traveling too ;)
Well explained here,our body responding to different time zone shows that its already adapted to one before.The distance covered within the specified time would really make a big difference.
Hi @kingabesh!
Your post was upvoted by utopian.io in cooperation with steemstem - supporting knowledge, innovation and technological advancement on the Steem Blockchain.
Contribute to Open Source with utopian.io
Learn how to contribute on our website and join the new open source economy.
Want to chat? Join the Utopian Community on Discord https://discord.gg/h52nFrV
awesome write up bro. though i don't really travel much, i experience sleep pattern distortion after an exam that had me reading all night. i can't close my eyes in the night and my eyes won't open in the day.
i guess this is a well detailed explanation of my problems
Yeah man. Thanks for the comment. I appreciate
I think the circadian rhythm has greater influence on sleep as compared to sleep homeostatis...
relates to why I couldn't just stay up some little more minutes yesterday, even when I really wanted to -- I just fell face down and slept.
Great stuff you put on here @kingabesh
Yeah it does. Thanks for stopping by man
Interesting read. Never knew travelling between time zones could have such significant effects on our body.
I read somewhere that a neurochemical in our body known as Adenosine is responsible for making us feel sleepy and when we ingest caffeine it goes and block this Adenosine, reason why caffeine is used to prevent us from sleeping when we should. Does it have any connection to the circadian rhythm?
Not fully read that but I am not particularly sure it affects your circadian rhythm in any way but there’s a possibility and yes, traveling across timezones should have an effect since we have our own internal time.
Alright man.
A good write up, bro. Jetlags are very common among the long route travelers. Thanks for explaining this to us.
Cheers bro!
Glad you appreciate it :)
Circadian rhythm, let me go and keep that one where I can quickly remember it. I never knew jet lag towards the east is worse than that towards the west, but what do I even know sef..
I enjoyed reading this, although I haven't had to cross time zones yet... Well done
Neither have I ;). I hope we get to do so soon
Good stuff. I learnt from this one
Thanks man. Glad you love it
This is exactly why I don't like traveling overseas too much, from here it usually requires crossing many timezones. Next time I will take some of your advice though (and will also avoid drinking coke on the trip!).
Yeah everyone hates jetlags :). I’m glad you are willing to take my advice