Talk:Jet lag

Starvation
This section should be re-titled as "Fasting" and the word "starve" should be changed to "fast". Starvation is something quite different than skipping a meal or two.

Technical Name?
The lede gives "desynchronosis", I can recall reading about this in Scientific American in the mid 1970s, they used the term "Circadian Dysrhythmia". Is that term no longer fashionable? 121.217.97.126 (talk) 09:34, 10 October 2012 (UTC)

Direction of travel
The Direction of Travel section is inconsistent and not well referenced. Quoting:
 * North-south flights that do not cross time zones do not cause jet lag. Adjustment to the new time zone is easier for west-to-east travel than east-to-west. Adjusting to the new time zone takes, in days, approximately two-thirds the number of time zones crossed for eastward travel. A westward flight takes approximately half the number of time zones crossed.

The second sentence states that timezone adjustment is easier on east-bound travel - it gives no refernce. The third & fourth sentences state that less days are needed for adjustment for west-bound travel - this is in accordance with Waterhouse et al. reference. The second sentence should be corrected. -- 69.11.119.31 (talk) 11:55, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

External link
I reverted the addition of a jet lag calculator the other day. I see a couple issues with it. First, it aims to give advice, which is inappropriate for wikipedia (particularly medical advice). It is not clear if this is a medically reliable source, if it has gone through any sort of peer review (though the editor who added the link said on my talk page they were a physician). The calculator also advises the use of melatonin, which the page itself states is not universally accepted as effective and/or useful. Overall, this looks like a personal project, one which may be valid and effective, but still one that doesn't meet our requirements for reliable sources or external links, as well as the problem of it giving advice. WLU (t) (c) Wikipedia's rules: simple/complex 19:37, 17 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the explanation above. The calculator is a personal project, like you mention, and it does aim to give advice (it's in the title). But, it should not constitute medical advice since there is no prescription medicine component to it (melatonin and bright lights are available over-the-counter).  The calculator was peer-reviewed at the medical institution where I work, and will be submitted for external review in the coming months.  If the calculator is published by an independent, reputable journal, on the web, is there a way for it to pass the "advice" hurdle? Temperzee (talk) 21:51, 18 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Melatonin is not available over the counter in all countries, in fact I think it is explicitly illegal in some. If published in a peer-reviewed journal, it could probably be used as a source on the page, however a static journal article is not appropriate as a external link.  You could always request advice at the external links noticeboard, you may find a different opinion than mine or some insights into the process to produce a webpage that is suitable as an EL.  Or perhaps not.  You may want to try including it at the DMOZ (off-wikipedia), particularly since there is an existing page and the calculator on it is currently a redirect to a site selling light therapy machines.  Though even then I'm ill-inclined to link to the DMOZ page here, since it includes a link to a bullshit homeopathic remedy, some specious diet advice and really nothing appropriately reliable.  WLU (t) (c) Wikipedia's rules: simple/complex 19:22, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

Management after travelling East (added)
This article had got a bit too technical, and was short of practical information for travellers. While mindful of the desire not to give medical advice, there was useful practical information explaining when to go outside in the articles linked from wikipedia which I felt should be presented in a clear and simple way for those poor jetlagged individuals (like me). I needed to find this two days ago, and it was buried deep in an academic article. I created two more subsections "Management after travelling East" and "Management after travelling West" in the Management section. Andy Henson. 82.152.115.137 (talk) 11:42, 30 September 2013 (UTC)
 * The problem with adding such information is that Wikipedia is not a how-to --Ronz (talk) 15:53, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

The three Waterhouse references
are too old. There's been lots of research and new findings since they were written. Newer ones should be found. --Hordaland (talk) 21:35, 19 October 2013 (UTC)


 * And Waterhouse (2007) is subscription-only, making it close to useless for most readers. Boud (talk) 22:18, 24 May 2015 (UTC)

Jet lag is aggravated by the lower cabin pressure?
There are references on the web that higher in flight pressure is correlated with lesser jet lag symptoms, but the article contains no mention of this. Medical News Today article JohnnyJet article Yurivict (talk) 08:25, 12 November 2013 (UTC)

I've reverted this 'External link'
twice now, and I don't want to get into 3RR territory. Link. Looks like it might be advertising or non-RS. It's atm down for "maintenance". My last edit summary asks the IP to defend it here on the "Talk" page. --Hordaland (talk) 17:04, 22 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Hmm. It's still (or again) down for maintenance.  Can be ignored.  --Hordaland (talk) 15:01, 7 July 2014 (UTC)

Disputed facts
The following is disputed for the reasons stated below:

"The condition is not linked to the length of flight, but to the trans-meridian (west–east) distance traveled. A ten-hour flight from Europe to southern Africa does not cause jet lag, as travel is primarily north–south. A five-hour flight from the east to the west coast of the United States may well result in jet lag."

1. Jet lag has been experienced by passengers traveling from the east coast of North America to the west coast of South America, or vice versa, which is a very long flight, but only one time zone. In some cases it has been more severe than the "flight from the east to the west coast of the United States", which is three time zones.

2. Supposedly, no one experiences jet lag if they travel on Air Force One, regardless of the number of time zones crossed. This is generally assumed to be evidence that jet lag is really caused by the cramped conditions on commercial airlines. However, it could be that the excitement of being on a plane with the President of the United States prevents the normal physiological effects.

71.109.152.119 (talk) 01:36, 7 July 2014 (UTC)


 * Any (very) long (commercial) flight can/will cause discomfort. You're physically/psychologically cramped, the thin air feels somehow artificial, it's impossible to stay hydrated and who knows how long you had to travel and wait before your flight.  On a north-south flight you've caught up on sleep by the day after arrival.
 * After an east-west flight, your brain's/body's master clock is out of sync with the light-dark cycle and some of your organs are likely out of sync with each other. (I've read, can't remember where, that the liver takes the longest to catch up.)  Only that part of your discomfort is jet lag.  --Hordaland (talk) 15:39, 7 July 2014 (UTC)


 * The only aircraft who's passengers were immune from jet lag was Concorde as its cruising speed of more than 1,200 mph exceeded the rotational speed of the Earth. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.144.50.176 (talk) 17:53, 16 September 2018 (UTC)

Moving a section here. See below.
"The Role of Light

Both circadian and sleep-wake cycles are affected by the photoreception cycle. “Solar light-dark cycle is…the most important environmental time cue for entrainment in most animal species”. In general, light enters the eye, to the retinohypothalamic tract, and to melatonin type 2 receptors in the SCN. Waterhouse et al. studied twenty blind individuals and found that half had free running rhythms. A free running rhythm is one that is not exactly twenty-four hours but is quite close to it, the average is about twenty-five hours. Waterhouse et al. suggested that half of the participants who were entrained to the twenty-four hour clock may be a consequence of social cues such as meal times and work schedules. In addition, some of the participants were not completely blind and could still perceive light. The study by Waterhouse et al. provided support for light as an important exposure for entrainment of internal rhythms with external ones. There has been some data that light therapy in combination with SSRI administration makes the SSRI uptake more effective in major depressive and bipolar participants. Benedetti et al. (2003) suggested that the mechanism for this result could involve biological rhythms. Furthermore, serotonin may affect circadian rhythms via the 5-HT7 receptor in the SCN "


 * Much of this new section the new section above is based on the Waterhouse ref. Waterhouse is partly out-of-date (normal people free-run at an average of 24.2 hours, not 25 as our editor has it nor 24.5 as Waterhouse has it) and partly misunderstood by our contributor (light itself does not enter the brain, of course).  Some of this may be salvageable, but I see no reason to explain free-running sleep in the blind here, for example. And formatting would need fixing.
 * I'll leave this now, as there are two other new sections to look at: "The Role of Melatonin" and "Mental Health Implications". And it won't/can't be tonight.
 * BTW, the URL for this Waterhouse ref, full text, is  http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(07)60529-7/fulltext
 * The three other Waterhouse refs still in the article look OK, I think. The Dijk, Mullins, Sack and Benedetti refs are OK, too.
 * --Hordaland (talk) 03:22, 29 July 2015 (UTC)

references:


 * I've changed the section name from "The Role of Melatonin" to "Treatment". I see that this should be merged into the Management section(s).  A better name as jet lag earlier was classified as a disorder but no longer is.  --Hordaland (talk) 01:11, 1 August 2015 (UTC)
 * I've shortened the Mental health section considerably. It could likely be expanded again if recent review refs can be found.--Hordaland (talk) 03:33, 1 August 2015 (UTC)
 * Done for now. The article could doubtless be improved with more recent & better sources.  --Hordaland (talk) 04:49, 1 August 2015 (UTC)


 * Added today so that it won't look like I wrote the first paragraph above:
 * quotation marks and " this new section the new section above".
 * --Hordaland (talk) 20:13, 30 July 2016 (UTC)

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Delayed sleep phase disorder
Someone should link jet lag with Delayed sleep phase disorder, which is a chronical type of Jet lag. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Neurorebel (talk • contribs) 00:27, 20 June 2017 (UTC)

Horses
It might be fun to expand this article with information about jet lag in racehorses. I haven't found the perfect source yet, but there has been some research on the subject. WhatamIdoing (talk) 04:44, 30 December 2020 (UTC)

Jet lag
Can’t sleep 2A00:23C5:F380:AC01:7CBB:F5A7:1575:4E93 (talk) 20:53, 16 August 2022 (UTC)

circadian rhythms or relativity?
How do we know for a fact that jet lag is caused by disturbing the circadian rhythms and that it is not a product of Einstein relativity? I've felt jet lag going from West to East across the ocean, I've had disturbed circadian rhythms before. It didn't feel like a circadian rhythm experience, it felt like something different. 50.47.109.128 (talk) 03:27, 6 December 2022 (UTC)

Argonne National Laboratory Anti-Jet-Lag Diet
The diet works. Most legible online description is at https://www.netlib.org/misc/jet-lag-diet. The creator of the diet, Charles Ehret, coauthored a book: Overcoming Jet Lag by Charles F. Ehret and Lynne W. Scanlon, revised as The Cure for Jet Lag.

Open Library has the first of these in a German translation, at https://openlibrary.org/works/OL24207134W/Wie_die_Zeit_im_Flug_vergeht, if that helps. Original research, also well attested by various authors in reputable publications: I've used it a couple of times traveling overseas and it worked. It's harder to sustain the discipline on return, though.

Try to put it in the Management section, please. Larry Koenigsberg (talk) 19:29, 30 August 2023 (UTC)