Dear friends and followers, welcome back to my channel and to an interesting topic, which not only concerns passengers,
But also pilots and flight attendants;
Everybody's nightmare:
jet lag.
I'll talk about what it is, how you can get it, and some helpful tips for what you can do and how to best deal
With it. So put away those sleeping masks and let's get started just get started
You got the air Kennedy one departure the runway heading to 1.5 being even a right turn heading 1-0-0
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The word jet lag was first introduced in the 1960's
by journalist Horace Sutton as he talked about the negative side effects of the aviation jet age.
Because at a time the main means of transportation was via ship if he wanted it across the Atlantic for example.
So let's say you would have wanted to go from Southampton, England to New York,
That would have been a 7 to 10 days boat ride.
So the passengers slowly adapted to the new time zone whilst being on the ship
By just going to bed when the Sun had set and woke up as the Sun rose over the horizon.
But this all changed when the first
commercial jet planes were introduced and your body
started lagging behind the rapid time zone changes as the Atlantic crossing only took a few hours.
So how do you get it?
Well, it's not something you get like a disease, although if you read the side effects you can suffer from,
It sounds like you need to be hospitalized after each flight.
It definitely sounds worse than it is.
But there are two main things which determine the severity of jet lag:
The overflown time zones and if you're heading east or west bound.
Now, let's quickly look at a globe or for the people who think that the world is flat and I spray out chemtrails for a living,
Please use a plate instead. So one entire rotation of the earth equals 24 hours meaning we have
24 different time zones. Now as the earth is divided in a western and an eastern hemisphere,
there are
180 degrees longitude
going to the west and 180 degrees going to the east. Add those together and you have the earth rotation of
360 degrees per day. Now if you divide that by 24, that will equal 15 degrees meaning
every 15 degrees a new time zone begins. Makes sense right?
Now let's say you've booked a flight from Munich, situated on 12 degrees east longitude, to Los Angeles,
Situated on 118 degrees west longitude. That as a little icebox surfing wave won't do it for you anymore
and you want to surf some proper waves.
Now you add
longitudes together and divide those by 15 degrees and you'll know the time difference and the time zones
you've overflown so 8.6. So that is a time difference of 9 hours.
That's a jet lag you will feel, I can promise it out now, although you've flown
Westbound and the mnemonic goes for jet lag, "West is best" and "East is beast."
Meaning if you set off in Germany at 11:00 a.m. You fly for 12 hours and arrive at 11 p.m
German time in LA, your body is ready to go to bed although it's only 2:00 p.m. in LA local time
so you've actually
gained some time and then you'll try to stay up for the rest of the day and then you'll crash in the evening and most
Likely wake up in the middle of the night because your body's clock or circadian rhythm tells you to do so.
But I'll come back to that in a minute.
So, but if you decide to go surfing in Cape Town, South Africa,
You won't suffer from any jet lag at all as it is within the same time zone as Germany or within the 15 degree longitude
Window. Now, you might suffer from the airplane food and a long flight, but it's a whole other story.
So in general going along the longitudes
There is no time zone change except for some countries have decided on an overall time zone although their country
ranges over five time zones such as China
For example. by the way, for the Flat Earth people South Africa is just about right here at the edge of the plate.
So you do not want to surf out too far, otherwise you're gonna fall off the planet - I mean the plate.
just sayin'
oh boy.
Okay, how can you remember if you need to add or subtract time before you set out on your trip?
Think of London as the center of the earth.
Well, it does lie on the zero Meridian and
Imagine Queen Lizzie sipping some tea whilst having lunch with William and Kate. So it's midday in England and in the meantime,
Audrey hepburn is having
Breakfast at Tiffany's. So it's early morning in New York.
So you subtract time going west and now picture Mahatma Gandhi having an evening dinner in India,
so you add time as you go east. Now, let's talk about your circadian rhythm
I've mentioned before or better known as your body's internal clock. Now, you know that feeling as you get up at 7:00 a.m
for five days straight and on the sixth day, your body got up without even setting alarm clock in the evening before.
Now your body has adapted itself to getting up at 7 a.m
Or, let's better say to this rhythm,
Meaning your body is now ready get some breakfast as your insulin levels have become lower overnight.
So this internal clock helps you to anticipate dusk and dawn and therefore controls your blood pressure, stress,
appetite, and many more. So messing with your internal clock, AKA, jet lag, Your body is lagging behind,
trying to keep up and adapt to the new dusk and dawn times. Now, you'll feel hungry at times You should be sleeping,
you're also likely to get headaches, drowsiness, and mild depressions, and diarrhea. So to counteract these symptoms,
these are my five tips to deal with jet lag. Now,
these tips have become second nature to me, as I'm dealing with jet lag literally before and after each flight. Tip number one:
Light exposure. now get your body slowly
Adapted to the new time zone a few days before you set out on your trip.
If you're heading east,
go to bed earlier the days before by reducing exposure to light.
So a good set of blinds in your bedroom will help. If you're heading west, stay
longer. Set your apartment lights to full brightness to trick your body into thinking is still daylight outside and
Treat yourself with a lay in the next day.
I have to admit this advice won't work for everyone as it messes with your social life and
Pilots struggle with this method as they fly from one time zone into another one within a few days.
But if your flights are primarily into easterly or westerly time zone, it definitely helps to have
Prepared a few days in advance. Tip number two:
Hydrate hydrate hydrate! The air within the cockpit and the cabin is so dry and lacks in oxygen, that it is
Counter-intuitive for dealing with the upcoming jet lag. You'll feel lazy and sleepy and the monotone sound on an airplane
Definitely adds to that. now to counteract that,
I personally drink 1 liter of water for every 3 hours of flight and
more as I cross the Atlantic and fly beyond, 4 liters of water is pretty normal to me.
If you don't hydrate,
You can actually see your skin drying out with every hour in the plane and don't let that happen.
Actually,
the best indicator is the tip of your elbow, if that becomes all white and
crumbly,
You better start drinking. And that immediately brings me to tip number 3: by "start drinking," I don't mean to drink any
alcohol or caffeine on your flights.
I know it's tempting as the booze and the coffee are for free on most of the flights, and you told yourself
"Yeah, I'm gonna get all drunk and pass out in the flight and drink coffee the next day" to that quick
It's a new time zone. Well, good luck with that. First off, don't drink and fly
Otherwise you'ĺl crash and die. I just made that up.
Well, all jokes aside, alcohol and caffeine will dehydrate your body even more.
coffee will only work temporarily and make the recovering process of jet lag even longer and
Alcohol is never a good idea, but you all know that. The same goes for sleeping pills and melatonin pills;
First of all, not every country offers these over-the-counter. In most parts of Europe, you'll need a prescription for those. And
anything which will make you dependent on, might be okay for a passenger but NOT for pilots.
I don't take any pills whatsoever. Not even an aspirin because my approach to it all is,
My body got itself into this mess so it might as well find a way of getting out of it.
It's as simple as that to be honest. Tip number 4:
Adjust your meals for wherever you are. If you eat breakfast every day at 8 a.m
in London, you then should eat breakfast every day at 8 a.m. In Hong Kong
for example. I know this can be harsh, depending on when you arrive at your destination, etc.
And most often you don't feel hungry at all,
but research has found that eating directly affects your insulin levels, and these insulin levels directly
Affect your body's timekeeping.
So eating meals according to your new time zone will help your body to adapt quicker and recover
Easier from jet lag. and whilst you're at it make sure it's a healthy food intake, easily digestible
Vegetables and soups for example. Not like me, having fast food at an In-n-out burger right after my flight
I just had to. show me a better spot to eat burgers while spotting planes on short final. And I my last and most effective tip:
exercise and fresh air.
I cannot emphasize this enough. If you've been sitting on a plane for more than 12 hours,
your body is literally striving for some exercise.
I know everyone feels even more exhausted and tired after a long flight,
but for me,
going for a run and pushing some weights at the gym has proven to be the most effective way of recovering or dealing with
Jet lag. Go for a walk in the park to get that last bit of bad
airplane air out of your system and give your body a chance to hit that reset button.
I'm not saying run a marathon.
Just get your heart rate up and your blood pumping through your muscles and you'll feel so much better
I promise you that. And whilst you're out and about, catch a sunrise or sunset
which will trigger your mind to adapt quicker to the new dusk and dawn rhythm.
I also get a lot of questions how I set my watch doing longer lay-overs. My watch is always
set to local time in my home base in Luxembourg. My phone is always set to local time of the destination
I'm at, and my company iPad is always set in to UTC
Time, as I use it as an alarm clock in accordance with my flight schedule, which is also set in UTC.
Please comment below if you have any other great advice in dealing with jet lag.
I'm sure many others can profit from your advice and I'll be happy to try out some new stuff too.
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English subtitles By Tyler Lofton