Travel Sleep Tips

I'm Dr. Shelby Harris. I'm a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in behavioral sleep medicine. Today I'll be discussing how you can better anticipate your sleep needs while on the go. (upbeat music) Jet lag can occur when your sleep-wake cycle is upended during travel and symptoms may include feeling extremely tired, lethargic or irritable. And when you think about it, it makes sense biologically. Our bodies were not designed to travel the world in such short periods of time. For almost all of human history, we traveled incrementally by foot or on horseback and our bodies could gradually adjust to new environments. That's why modern travel can be taxing on our systems. Our circadian rhythms, or our 24-hour internal body clocks, need time to sync up with our destination's local time. The general rule of thumb when it comes to traveling is that it takes one day per time zone crossed to adjust. So if you're going across multiple time zones, it might take your body several days to feel completely normal. For example, flying eastward from New York to Paris means your jet lag could last three or four days with that six hour time difference. Now let's talk about some of the things that you can do to make that adjustment a little bit easier. (upbeat music) If your trip is only one to three days, max, try as best as you can to stay synced up with your home time zone. With it being such a short trip, by the time your body adapts to the new local time, it'll be time to come home anyway. By sticking to your regular schedule, disruption to your sleep won't be as jarring on the other end. But if that doesn't seem feasible, try to find a middle ground where you can shift your bedtime forwards or backwards by an hour or two. Now, if you're about to embark on a big time zone shift, it's best to think ahead and consider adjusting your schedule a few days in advance before the trip. Depending which direction you're going in, you can do this by going to bed and waking up 15 minutes earlier or later every day to slowly get yourself closer to the destination's time. If you're someone who really struggles with jet lag, I recommend starting to adjust your sleep schedule up to a week before you leave. Also, remember to be kind to yourself. Experiencing jet lag and travel fatigue is totally normal, so make sure you don't overload your schedule the first few days and block off enough time for rest. (mellow music) Light is the driving force that dictates the circadian rhythm of our sleep-wake cycle. In the mornings, light helps signal to our bodies when it's time to wake up. Conversely, at night, when light diminishes and darkness takes over, the pineal gland in our brain releases melatonin, a hormone that promotes sleep. Traveling can up-end our body clock by confusing our sense...