What should you know about having a jet lag?

Your body clock helps coordinate sleep, alertness, meals and hormone rhythms. Crossing time zones makes these signals temporarily disagree with the local schedule. Eastward travel often makes earlier sleep difficult, while westward travel can make staying awake later easier, although experiences vary.

Use the destination’s clock for meals and sleep soon after arrival. Seek outdoor daylight at a helpful local time, keep naps brief if you need one, and choose water over excess alcohol. A calm evening routine, a dark cool bedroom and limiting late caffeine can support sleep. A travel-health clinician can advise whether any sleep aid is suitable for you.

Speak with a clinician if sleep disruption continues after you have had time to adjust, repeatedly affects driving or work, or resembles ongoing insomnia. Seek urgent help for severe confusion, fainting, chest symptoms or a sudden severe headache rather than assuming these are jet lag.

Ask how to time light exposure for your route, whether medicines or supplements are safe with your health conditions, and how to protect alertness during driving or safety-sensitive tasks.