What is jet lag?

Your internal clock coordinates sleep, wakefulness, digestion, and hormone signals with light and darkness. Crossing several time zones moves the local schedule faster than the body can adjust. You may experience difficulty sleeping at night, daytime sleepiness, headache, poor concentration, or changes in appetite. Eastward travel often requires earlier sleep and wake times, while westward travel requires later ones, but the experience varies.

Before and during travel, protect sleep, drink water, and avoid relying on alcohol to make you drowsy. Once you arrive, use daylight and meals to reinforce local time, keep naps short, and follow a regular bedtime. Avoid driving or hazardous work when sleepy. A travel health consultation can help with timing, existing sleep conditions, medicines, and destination-specific advice. Insomnia management strategies may help if sleep disruption continues.

Speak with a clinician if sleep problems or daytime sleepiness continue after your body should have adjusted, repeatedly disrupt travel, or are severe enough to affect driving and work. Seek urgent care for chest pain, severe breathlessness, fainting, new confusion, or a sudden neurological symptom rather than assuming it is jet lag.

How should I shift my sleep schedule for this trip? Are light exposure or any medicine appropriate for me, and how can I stay safe if I remain sleepy after arrival?