Institute for Continuing Education

Jet Lag and Sleep

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this module, you will be able to:

• Define jet lag disorder as a circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorder and explain its underlying chronobiological mechanisms, including the role of the suprachiasmatic nucleus, melatonin, and environmental zeitgebers in circadian entrainment.
• Identify the physiological, cognitive, and performance consequences of jet lag, including sleep disruption, gastrointestinal disturbances, mood alterations, and impaired cognitive function, and recognize individual factors that influence jet lag susceptibility.
• Describe evidence-based preventive strategies for minimizing jet lag severity, including strategic light exposure, timed melatonin administration, sleep scheduling, and pre-travel circadian adjustment techniques.
• Evaluate pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions for managing jet lag symptoms, including melatonin, hypnotics, stimulants, and behavioral approaches, with specific attention to efficacy, safety, and appropriate use in different traveler populations.
• Apply principles of circadian physiology to develop individualized jet lag management plans based on travel direction, number of time zones crossed, trip duration, and traveler-specific factors

Course Information

Jet lag, or desynchronosis, is a temporary condition that some people experience following air travel across several time zones in a short period of time. This causes the traveler’s internal clock to be out of sync with the external environment. People experiencing jet lag have a difficult time maintaining their internal, routine sleep-wake pattern in their new location, because external stimuli, like sunshine and local timetables, dictate a different pattern. For this reason, one can feel lethargic one moment and excited the next. Jet lag creates a double bind for vacationers and business people who must cross several time zones to reach their destination, but who are also intent on maximizing sightseeing or productivity. As travelers attempt to adjust their internal clock to a new external environment, symptoms result with varying intensity.

Jet lag (desynchronosis) occurs while rapidly crossing time zones, or, more specifically, it occurs after crossing the Earth’s meridians. Meridians demarcate geographic position in relation to the Earth’s poles and, ultimately, define time zones. Jet lag is a unique sleep disorder because its onset is not necessarily caused by abnormal sleep patterns, like insomnia. Travelers who sleep normally prior to transmeridian travel are not immune to jet lag; the symptoms result when a person’s internal clock attempts to acclimate to a new external environment. This acclimation involves circadian rhythms that, among other functions, are associated with the body’s management of sleep.