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Jet lag is no fun. In fact, its one of the few drawbacks of jetting off to some far-off time zone for what should be some quality R&R.
While its common knowledge that our sleep and wake cycles — governed by biological circadian rhythms — cant immediately adjust to a new time on the clock after rapidly skipping one or more time zones, we are only just learning why.
While seasoned travelers know that flying eastward is much harder to recover from than the same flight in the opposite direction.
Jet lag is less terrible when flying west because that direction adds hours to our days, giving our bodies more time to adjust
Because flying west adds hours to the day, we give our bodies the extra time they naturally need to sync up with a circadian cycle, making the adjustment period smoother.
Flying east, on the other hand, eats up hours, and forces our circadian rhythms to be cut even further.
The researchers came to the conclusion that when traveling west, our bodies need a little bit less than one day per time zone change to readjust, while when flying east, we crave about one and a half days per time zone. So, flying from New York to Paris — a difference of six hours — would take about eight full days to fully adjust, while the reverse would take less than six days.
Theres still no cure for jet lag!
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