Maintaining proper meal times can help alleviate the effects of jet lag, finds new research from the University of Surrey in the U.K.
Maintaining proper meal times can help to alleviate the effects of jet lag, finds new research from the University of Surrey in the U.K.
According to a press release about the study, long-haul flights can be problematic because of jet lag which can result in “fatigue, impaired sleep, cognitive performance, moodiness and loss of appetite.”
To see if eating strategies could make a difference, researchers recruited 60 long-haul crew members to either “eat regular meals on their days off or [have] no plan for regular meals.”
Based on the experiment, the team “found that meal times were important for the general wellbeing of cabin crew and for helping to adapt the body clock during days off.”
Study members also identified another contributing factor, with Dr. Cristina Ruscitto pointing out that “adapting to the home time zone on days off is particularly important for fitting in with home life and ultimately for wellbeing.”
A next step in the research would be to determine if eating plans have a longer-term effect and if the contents of the meal itself would make a difference in helping to reset the body clock.
