BUSINESS CLASS | The Scotsman Special report | Wednesday 3 September 200810
I
F YOU'RE hitting the ground run-
ning on arrival, the last thing you
needisabodyclocksetfor2am.But
ifyou'vejustflownthroughseveral
timezones,disruptedsleeprhythmsare
inevitable.Orarethey?
While switching night into day will
obviouslyhaveanimpactonyourbody,
there are ways to significantly reduce
the effects of a long flight. In fact, new
techniques could see you bright eyed
and bushy tailed for your first foreign
meeting.
Themostsignificantimpactwhichjet
lagwillhaveonyoursystemistodisrupt
your natural body rhythms � particu-
larly if you've flown through more than
three time zones. This isn't the same as
disrupting your sleep patterns. Your
body has a number of natural hormone
cycles to keep various functions in
check, and all of them run to an
expecteddaylightclock.
Takeyourmetabolism,forexample.It
is designed to rise steadily throughout
the day, peaking mid-evening and
falling as your body prepares for sleep.
Your cortisol levels, which are assoc-
iated with stress, also have their own
daily peaks and troughs to keep you
alertinthedayandasleepatnight,asdo
yourmelatoninlevels.
When you suddenly switch day to
night, you don't just confuse your sleep
patterns�allofyourotherdigestiveand
hormonal functions will be out as well.
Which explains why sufferers wake up
in the middle of the night starving, or
feel unaccountably hot or cold at
strange times of the day as their
metabolismpeaksandplummetsatthe
wronghour.
"Jet travel across time zones causes a
misalignmentbetweenbodyclocktime
and local, external time," says sleep
specialist Dr Chris Idzikowski, director
of the Edinburgh Sleep Laboratory and
adviser to British Airways on jet lag.
"People vary as to their ability to detect
these effects or how much they are
affected, but often there is sleep depriv-
ation and sleep disruption," he says.
"This leads to concentration, vigilance
and memory impairment. Also, risk-
taking, suggestibility, moral decision
makingandtheabilitytodealwithnew
informationareimpaired."
Clearly,it'snotidealtoheadtoabusi-
nessmeetingwithanincreasedpropen-
sity to risk-taking behaviour and sug-
gestibility, so how do you combat these
changes? Essentially, you need to get
your body into the new daylight pat-
terns as quickly as possible, so first and
foremost it's not a good idea to go to
sleepifit'sdaylightwhenyouarrive.Eat-
ing regular meals and exercising in the
mornings will also help you adjust, but
thebestweaponinyourjetlagarmoury
is how you expose yourself to natural
light.
"Lightisthebiggestandmostpower-
ful synchroniser of your biological
clock,"saysProfessorMartinMoore-Ede
of Harvard Medical School. "Exercise
and time of eating facilitate synchron-
isation to the new time zone, but the
effects are around 80 per cent less than
thoseoflight."
According to Moore-Ede, you can use
lightatcertaintimestohelpadjustyour
bodymorerapidlytothenewtimezone.
"Light between 2am and 4am slows the
clock down, while light between 4am
and 6am speeds it up," he explains. In
otherswords,dependingonwhichtime
zoneyou'reflyinginto,youcanuselight
to stretch out or shorten your
24-hour body cycles to help maximise
yourabilitytocopewiththenewhourly
cycle.
Clearly, this can be difficult to do on
an aeroplane, and Moore-Ede has
teamed up with natural light products
manufacturer Lumie to develop a
special light visor for jet lag. It can be
bought for around �299 or hired for a
return trip. Your colleagues may see the
funny side of you taking a ten-hour
flight sporting your own floodlit base-
ball cap, but you'll have the last laugh
whenyouarriveatyourdestinationper-
fectlyadjusted.
While sleep and light deprivation
may be one aspect of jet lag, there are
other contenders which can leave you
feeling washed out. During flight, pas-
sengers are subject to constant air con-
ditioning which dehydrates the body
and tends to circulate coughs and colds
atthesametime.
With the tiny cups handed out on
board it's almost impossible to get
enough water into your body as you fly,
sostockupwithtwolargebottlesbefore
you get on the plane and drink both.
You'll be amazed how much better you
feelwhenyouarrive.
"There are also a number of vitamin
tonicsyoucanbuyattheairporttokeep
your health at its peak, or you could
stock up on Travel Angel's aromather-
apy wrist bands to keep you perky (and
sweetsmelling)whenyouarrive.
However,ifyou'reonlyonashorttrip
you're probably best off not making
your jet lag adjustment too effective.
After all, you don't want to return to
workinScotlandtodiscoverthatyou're
seriouslystuckinNewYork.
Light relief to help you beat the clock
When you find yourself off kilter
Jetlagoccursbecausethe
body'snaturalclockissetfor
patternsofdaylightand
darknessitisusedto,andit
takesawhiletoadjusttonew
timezones.Thisprocesscanbe
debilitating,andcancostthe
businesstravellerdearlyifthe
bodyisnotallowedtoadjust.So
whatcanyoudotocounterthe
worsteffects?
POPAPILL
Melatonin,ahormonesecreted
inthebrain,isthoughttotrigger
sleep(whengiventosparrows
camomile,ipecacuanhaand
mosshasbeenprovedeffective
indouble-blindtrials.
WEARTHEHAT
AswellastheLumielightvisor
(seemainstory),Cambridge-
basedresearchcompany
OutsideInusesanarrayoflight-
emittingdiodestofireburstsof
whitelightontoyourface.
Alternatedwithlight-blocking
sunglasses,itsimulatesnight
anddayandresetsyourbody
clock.
KATIEWOOD
Special glasses
can be used to
combatjetlagby
concentrating
light into the
retina Picture:
Reuters/Thierry Roge
Jet lag is the bane in the life of many a business traveller, but there are ways to reduce its impact, says CatherineQuinn
atdawn,they
stopped
tweetingand
dozedoff).Popa
pill20minutes
beforeyour
intendedbedtimeon
theflightandforafewdays
afterwards.Itisillegaltoobtain
melatoninintheUKwithouta
prescription.
Manyexperiencedtravellers
alsoswearby`No-Jet-Lag',a
homeopathicremedyfromNew
Zealand.Themakersclaimthe
preparationofdaisy,arnica,
"When you
suddenly
switch day
to night,
you don't
just confuse
your sleep
patterns"

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