Jet lag can be a real problem for travelers, especially if you’re flying across multiple time zones. This blog will teach you how to beat jet lag by adjusting your sleep and wake cycles before and during long-haul flights.
Jet Lag and Circadian Rhythm
Many people experience symptoms of jet lag, which include fatigue, insomnia, decreased alertness, irritability, and even nausea. The symptoms are so common that the term “jet lag” has become part of our everyday language.
Jet lag occurs because long-distance air travel throws off our body’s internal clock. Most of us have a circadian rhythm that’s synchronized to the day/night cycle on Earth (or at least in our time zone). Our bodies are designed to be active during daylight hours and inactive during the night. When we fly across several time zones, our internal clock doesn’t adjust immediately to the new schedule. The result is jet lag – an unpleasant mismatch between our internal clock and the outside world.
How Long Does Jet Lag Last?
The good news is that we can adjust to new time zones fairly quickly; it just takes a little effort. You may experience mild jet lag after crossing just one or two time zones, but you’ll usually overcome it within a day or two without any
The world’s longest flight is now 19 hours long. It is a nonstop flight between Singapore and New York City. This is not the kind of thing I usually write about, but I recently had to take this flight, and I learned a few things along the way. As it happens, I am quite good at preventing jet lag, so this was a perfect opportunity to see if I could still keep it together after almost a full day of flying.
The airplane that can fly this far is the Airbus A350-900ULR (Ultra Long Range). The ULR stands for Ultra Long Range. It is a new type of airplane that can fly further than most other airplanes in service today.
Jet lag is an evil that affects everyone who flies. It’s unavoidable, can’t be cured and makes you feel like crap for days. The only thing you can do about it is try to avoid it.
So what is jet lag?
Jet lag is the physical and mental discomfort felt by a traveler after crossing multiple time zones during flights. It’s not just the long flight that causes jet lag but also the sudden change of time zones.
When you travel your body gets out of sync with the daily rhythm or circadian rhythm which responds to changes in light, temperature and food intake. Your body’s internal clock doesn’t adapt immediately to the new time zone, causing a mismatch between your internal clock and local time. As a result, your body feels out of whack and has trouble dealing with this new rhythm.
The longest flight in the world is now from Singapore to Newark. It’s nearly 18 hours long, and it’s not a fun experience. While it’s great that we have airplanes that can cross the world in one go, a lot of people who fly this route suffer from jet lag for days afterwards.
Thankfully there are some things you can do to reduce the effects of jet lag. While you can’t entirely avoid it, you can minimize its impact on your life. There is no “magic pill” or special recipe to follow — but once you understand how your body reacts to flying, you can take steps to ease the transition.
The world’s longest flight is about to take off. In October, Singapore Airlines will relaunch nonstop service from New York to Singapore. The 19-hour trip runs 9,537 miles and breaks the record of 9,032 miles (from Doha, Qatar to Auckland, New Zealand) set by Qatar Airways earlier this year.
Singapore Air says the new flight will use an Airbus A350-900 ULR (Ultra Long Range), a version of the popular A350 with modifications to allow it to fly farther. The airline claims the plane has “the best cabin features of any aircraft,” including quieter engines, bigger windows and better air quality than other long-haul flights.
The current “best” cabin features are certainly nothing to sneeze at: I recently took an 11-hour flight on Emirates Airlines’ Boeing 777 in Business Class that would have been one of the best travel experiences ever, if not for my jet lag. My seat turned into a lay-flat bed that was longer than I am tall. There was a 15-inch touchscreen entertainment system and individual temperature controls for both air and water. I could even choose from four different levels of lighting around me.
Then there were the amenities: slippers, nice pajamas and a
How do animals, who don’t know what time zones are, cope with long-distance travel?
As I write this I’m halfway through the world’s longest flight — Qantas Flight 9 from London to Sydney — and it’s given me a chance to think about how animals deal with long-distance travel.
Most of the animals that cross time zones do so without thinking about it. Birds, fish, insects and other migrating animals are probably just obeying instincts that have evolved over millions of years.
But what about humans? Before we invented clocks, we were like all other living things: our day/night cycles were set by the rising and setting of the sun. Then in 1675, the Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens built the first pendulum clock — and humans began their long march towards jet lag.
The longest flight in the world is from Newark, New Jersey to Singapore, a distance of 11,099 miles. The Boeing 777-200LR aircraft that has been specially designed to make this flight can seat 253 passengers and hold 47,000 gallons of fuel.
The trip will take about 18 hours, 30 minutes. To help passengers pass the time on this long flight there are some interesting amenities. For example, three full meals will be served along with snacks throughout the flight. Seven beverage services will also be offered along with an open bar to help passengers relax.
The newest technology in entertainment is included in the fare. Each seat has its own personal TV monitor with more than 100 movies, 200 TV shows and 1,000 audio programs from which to choose. To help passengers stay productive during the long journey there is a business center as well as Wi-Fi internet access.
The plane flies over the North Pole and covers eight time zones on its route from Newark to Singapore. Even though it flies over the North Pole it does not land there so it is not possible for passengers to disembark the plane at any point during their flight.