Long after-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: stock.adobe.com – EdNurg)

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 a grip on your sleep-wake cycle. However, jet lag affects far more in our bodies than the layman might think! Curious? We've done some research for you!

Anyone who has ever flown to Japan, Thailand or Africa, for example, knows that you are traveling across several time zones. And that's the problem: "Our internal clock can't adjust immediately to a rapid time zone change, but needs a certain amount of time to do so," says sleep-wake researcher Gerhard Klösch from MedUni Vienna, explaining why jet lag occurs in the first place.

Logically, the problem was still unknown before the 20th century: "The technical realization of transmeridian flights created a new form of sleep disorder." Jet lag affects us far more than we think.