Time zones and jet-lagged passengers

by Siripathy Jayamaha

Blessed are our forefathers who traversed on mother earth on their two limbs which with time gave way to the raft, next to the wheel and finally to the plane. Today, air travel has shrunk the world. Man can now travel with the sun. The departure time is on the dot. Arrival is at the exact expected time. But one's wristwatch has to be reset in accordance with time denoted in the clocks of the country of disembarkation.

Living things from the tiny ‘nidikumba’ plant, snails to men are tuned to the 24 hour day. Disrupt basic rhythms and there is trouble. Jet travel around the globe is the greatest disruptor. Fly one direction the day lengthens; fly the other and it shortens. A call from Colombo to Los Angeles at 12 midnight. The call is taken at 12 noon on the day before at the lunch table. Actually 12 hours before the call from Colombo.

Jet lag or syndrome has little to do with jets. If someone locks himself in a room in Matara for about 12 hours and then reverses the living pattern to conform to clock time in Oslo, Norway, the same upsets experienced by people that face long distance plane travel, are very common.

Uneasiness

Jet lag becomes just a word when one moves leisurely by steamer, and trains across countries and even continents especially if one is in a group of happy relatives or friends. However, a sense of uneasiness prevails when one's lifestyle is tampered with. Get into a very slow moving bus from the exit door and start walking down the now speeding bus aisle looking for a seat, clinging on to the seat rests or to the metal ‘holding rods’ allocated for standing passengers. One is unsteady, unhinged even after finding a seat.

Yes you have broken the law in getting into a double door bus and also the laws of motion. Get in from the rear entrance, one can walk upto the driver's seat with ease, even if the good driver thinks he is on the super highway. A seat is found. Relaxed. Happy. Surprised? Try it.

The body rhythms begin to waver because of jet lag. Digestion, appetite, patterns of sleep and waking and even the menstrual cycle. A person's working hours'a change from the morning shift to the night can cause life cycle problems.

Disrupt them and results can range from minor annoyance to major upheavals. Kidneys, for example, are phased to produce copious urine during the day, little at night. Pass through ten time zones, the pattern is reversed.

The weary traveller is apt to be up two or three times the night. Body temperature is another factor. High peak at 10 pm and low point in and around the middle of the night.

Blood pressure

One may feel chilly in the afternoon and warm at night. There are similar peak-valley patterns for heart beat, respiration and blood pressure. Adaptable man can be prone to grave consequences if his cycles are upset. An eight am jab of insulin, in London on board a flight to Melbourne.

The poor passenger goes berserk. Body metabolism can make a person's world to collapse. At times literally.

Adrenal glands produce cortisone – one of the main body regulators. It moves like our ‘wada diya’ and ‘ba diya’, the tides. Jet lag changes this. At a time when a body has to be most efficient, it drops to a low ebb. Efficiency reigns when the body has to retire and rest.

A person commences a flight from Los Angeles at 11.00 am. Suddenly it is night. The sky is dark. Next, one sees the sun rise in the land of the rising sun. Morning of the following at Narita, Tokyo. Immediate flight to Singapore. One reaches Singapore around the same time the flight originated in Narita. A brief stop over.

A trip round the city and the famous harbour. Colombo flight is at 9.00 pm. A not so small snack at the airport. A sumptuous in flight dinner with a taste of paradise. A ‘yakkity yak” dinner at Kelaniya after about three hours. A time difference of 3 hours.

Time taken for the flight was three hours. Of course, it would be midnight of the next day in Singapore. One goes to bed. Stomach in turmoil. Has to work overtime. From Sukiyoki, Chop suey, fried rice to the good old pol sambol, embulthial and ‘bandakka'.

A veritable mixture of culinary presentations, all within a space of a few hours. Suddenly one realises that breakfast, lunch, tea snack, dinner have been partaken just within a couple of hours.

Pilots too undergo jet lag. But their task in pilotting the beautiful aircraft with humans or cargo in their care cause them to forget about jet lag. However, studies done by major airlines, and the Pilots Association show that many pilots prefer to fly North to South and vice versa, rather than West to East.

There have been many instances where participants at conferences and top level international meetings have been not that normal in their appearance and talk when these gatherings are attended straight from the airport after a long distant flight.

Non stop. Their times for medicaments, for blood pressure, gastric problems, and intake of tranquillisers become complicated.

Toddlers

Amazingly toddlers are least affected due to jet-lag. A happy gurgling tug on ammas source of maternal sustenance, or a bottle of present day “Einstein knowledge added’ milk powder, they slumber past many a time zone at tremendous speed, quite oblivious of the torments that adult travellers have to endure because of the jet-lag.

Happy is the traveller who boards a flight from the East on New Year's eve. Champagne when the time reads 12 midnight. Many time zone changes and crossings of the International Dateline. A few hours among the clouds. New years day dawns again. Champagne.

After about five time zone changes and on equal number of glasses of champagne and peanuts and also turkey and breuder, the travellers may have to be led down the gang-way or the air terminal tunnel.

Once on terra firma, in his own country, a little ‘kokatath Thailaya’ rubbed on the legs to ease the aches due to the jet-lag you relax Yes! One flies from North to South, East to West jet-lag or no jet-lag, if you need a good rest. Home is best. Around the globe, jetting with or against time whereever one may roam. But we all agree that there is never ever a place like home sweet home.