Long-term effects

Jet lag: what it does to our bodies

After a long-haul flight, the first few days can be tough: the body first has to adjust to the new time zone.(Bild: Anton - stock.adobe.com)

We’ve all been there: You fly far away to enjoy a nice vacation—and thanks to jet lag, you spend the first few days just trying to get your sleep-wake cycle under control. But jet lag affects far more in our bodies than the average person might think! Curious? We’ve done the research for you!

Anyone who has ever flown to Japan, Thailand, or Africa, for example, knows: you’re crossing several time zones. And that’s the problem: “Our internal clock can’t adjust immediately to a rapid time zone change; it needs a certain amount of time to do so,” explains sleep-wake researcher Gerhard Klösch from MedUni Vienna, explaining why jet lag occurs in the first place.