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If you’ve ever flown to the US for a holiday and found the jet lag to be way worse than flying to Asia or Europe, you’re not imagining things.
Scientists have officially determined that jet lag hits us worst when we’re travelling east.
Even travelling across just three time zones (like Perth to Sydney) can have an extreme impact on your sleep.
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Jet lag is worse when you travel east, it’s been found. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)
In one of the largest-ever studies on travel and sleep, scientists at the Centre of Sleep and Cognition at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine in Singapore found that sleep timing takes significantly longer to realign after travelling east.
This is because you are effectively ‘losing’ time.
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Our circadian rhythm, or body clock, tends to be less confused when we travel west, as this just ‘prolongs’ the experience of a normal day-to-night cycle.
When we travel eastward, we’re going in the opposite direction to our body clock.
This was the first large-scale, real-world study of jet lag recovery – previous studies have been conducted in laboratories or involved specific groups, such as athletes or military personnel.
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Sleep and planes just don’t mix well. (iStock)
For the study, scientists analysed sleep patterns during 60,000 trips using data from the Oura ring, a smart device used to track sleep and physical activity.
It was found that young adults tend to be more negatively impacted by jet lag on long flights than those in their 60s.
Senior research fellow at NUS Medicine, Dr Adrian Willoughby, said: “We’ve known for some time that jet lag is a challenge for travellers, but this study provides data-driven evidence of just how persistent the impacts are, particularly when it comes to adjusting sleep timing to a new time zone.
“Crossing time zones complicates this recovery by disrupting the ability to fall asleep at the appropriate local time.”
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It can take a week for your sleep to get back to normal. (Expedia)
The study found that sleep duration typically returns to normal two days after the flight. However, changes in sleep timing and structure (like more nighttime wake-ups) can persist for a week or longer.
Also, if you sleep on a long-haul flight, you’re more likely to experience impaired performance and increased daytime sleepiness compared to those who stay awake, the study showed.
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