Sleep Tips

It’s truly amazing how many of life’s persistent problems can be solved just by getting a good night’s sleep. It’s the miracle cure for many of the things that ail you. And one of the most annoying and potentially harmful of those is jet lag. Many of you who have careers that regularly take you to international destinations know just how devastating jet lag can be. Or the dream family trip overseas can quickly become a nightmare, when everyone is jet lagged. The disruption of your natural sleep cycles and circadian rhythms that causes jet lag can take days to fully recover from.

That extended period of fatigue, irritability, difficulty concentrating, and insomnia decreases your work performance and strains your relationships with the people around you. The stress that jet lag puts on your body is very detrimental to your health, and recurring incidents of it can eventually lead to serious physical and psychological disorders.

The best way to combat jet lag and lessen the duration and severity of its effects is to get a good night’s sleep, and an important part of ensuring that is creating a proper sleeping environment designed to naturally support your body in the correct posture for total relaxation and muscular tension relief. 

What Is Jet Lag?

Jet lag is the common term for what is known in medical circles as desynchronosis. It is a temporary sleep disorder that can affect people who travel across multiple time zones in a short period of time. Most people will experience some degree of jet lag when traveling overseas, with the severity of symptoms depending on the frequency of such travel, the distances involved, and personal susceptibility to its influence. Your age and overall physical health can also play a significant role in how badly jet lag will affect you. It should be noted that getting a good night’s sleep at home before you travel will also help you to avoid the worst symptoms. Not all people will be seriously affected by jet lag, and the range of symptoms reported can vary between individuals, but in general they include:

• Disrupted sleep patterns and insomnia. Nighttime restlessness and an inability to sleep at your destination or when you get home is the most commonly reported symptom of jet lag. This leaves you unrefreshed and sluggish during the day.
• Fatigue and malaise. Persistent feelings of sleepiness, tiredness, and lack of energy is the result of interrupted sleep patterns. Your body wants to sleep at the usual time, and it takes a while to adjust to a new routine.
• Cognitive impairment. Normal concentration, attention span, memory, and decision-making ability can all be affected by jet lag, leaving you unable to perform at your usual level. 
• Digestive problems. These include indigestion, nausea, bloating, and irregularity. 
• Other physical symptoms include headaches, muscle aches, dehydration, and general physical weakness.

Obviously, all of the above can have a serious impact on your performance levels, and make it difficult to adjust to a new working environment or to get back into your regular routine once you get home. You can reduce the effects of jet lag by starting to adjust your sleep patterns before you leave, avoiding alcohol and caffeine, and keeping yourself well-hydrated. But the best way to fight back against jet lag is to make sure you get a good night’s sleep at home and when you’re away.

What Jet Lag Does To Your Body

Rapidly traveling across several time zones totally confuses your body’s internal clock, which is regulated by what are known as circadian rhythms. These natural biological rhythms are present in almost all living things and are synchronized by the brain’s perception of light and dark, or day and night. When your body and brain start experiencing night and day at times that they are not accustomed to, it throws all sorts of physiological and psychological processes out of whack. The vitally important functions that your circadian rhythms control and that jet lag disrupts include:

• The sleep cycle. Most people’s bodies are used to being awake during the day when it’s light outside and asleep when it’s dark. When you’re in a place where the time of day and night is different, it disrupts this cycle and makes it difficult for your body to be active and to rest when it needs to.
• Hormonal regulation. Your body releases vitally important hormones on a regular daily pattern. These include melatonin, which helps to regulate the sleep cycle, cortisol, which controls stress levels, and human growth hormone. 
• Cognitive performance. Circadian rhythms prepare your body to function at optimal levels based on night and day. They regulate the processes that tell your body and mind to be active and alert during the day and slow down and get ready to rest at night. Jet lag interferes with this and causes your performance to deteriorate.
• Body temperature. On your normal schedule, your body temp will be highest in the late afternoon and at its lowest point in the early morning hours. Disrupting this cycle can affect your sleep comfort and keep you awake.

If you frequently travel across time zones for your job, then the cumulative effects of jet lag can eventually lead to serious and long-lasting physical conditions. It’s important to do everything you can to mitigate the effects. 

How Can A SLEEPWITHME Pillow Help You Fight Jet Lag?

The primary negative effects of jet lag stem from the disruption of your normal sleep patterns and the inability to get a good night's rest. If you plan to remain at your destination for an extended period of time, you’ll need to adjust your sleep cycle to the new schedule as quickly as possible. The same is true when you get back home and need to get adjusted to your regular routine.

To accomplish this, it’s vital to establish a sleep-friendly environment to maximize the quality of your sleep. Taking a SLEEPWITHME Pillow along with you on your travels and using it when you are at home is a great way to ensure you have the proper support and comfort level at all times.

Getting a good night’s sleep is important for your overall physical and mental health, as well as your appearance. When you are in a deep, relaxing sleep, your body begins to repair itself, regenerating cells, repairing damaged tissues, and releasing hormones that promote healing and rejuvenation.

Your skin health is also dependent on sleep, as that is when your body produces collagen, a protein that is essential for maintaining skin elasticity and preventing wrinkles, keeping your skin healthier and more youthful looking.

The innovative and patented design of the SLEEPWITHME Pillow helps you get your best sleep by ensuring proper spinal alignment and preventing sleep creases. It keeps pillow pressure off of your delicate facial skin and properly supports your neck no matter your sleeping position.

Your SLEEPWITHME Pillow is not only your best defense against jet lag. It’s a great way to help you get the sleep you need to stay healthy and vigorous, be your best, and maintain your youthful, radiant appearance.