Melatonin for Jet Lag- Is It a Good Remedy for Jet Lag?
Melatonin is body's internal sleep aid mechanism. It is believed that that it can help fight jet lag in some cases. Brain releases this chemical as night approaches, making us drowsy to help sleep.
Jet lag is the sleep disorder that occurs when people travel into different time zones. Jet lag is more prominent when flying from west to east as compared to flying from east to west. The reason is Melatonin release.
Since flying from West to east reduces the daytime and night approaches faster due to time zone differences, the set timing of Melatonin release gets disturbed. This creates jet lag.
Melatonin and Jet Lag
Some people take synthetic Melatonin a couple of hours before sleeping time of the new time zone and feel relieved of jet lag.
It works in some cases as jet lag remedy, but its effectiveness is highly debatable. In some cases Melatonin has been found to increase the jet lag symptoms.
It is still not very well understood as to how much melatonin should be taken and exactly for how many days and at what time.
Jet Lag for Melatonin Dosage
A 0.5 mg dose of Melatonin before bed time is generally prescribed but it doesn’t provide relief in all cases.
It has been found to benefit if it is taken along with regulating exposure timings with sunlight.
Regularly expose yourself to the Sunlight for ½ to 1 hour during the early hours in the new time zone. Take 0.5 mg melatonin before bed time. If you feel sleepy during the day then take small naps but no log sleeps during the day time.
This practice has been found reducing the jet lag sleep disturbance period. If a flight from LA to London would have otherwise created 9 days of jet lag, then the combination of Melatonin and Sunlight exposure can reduce the jet lag sleep disturbances to 3-4 days.
Since use of Melatonin as Jet lag remedy has shown some benefits in some cases it requires more research to provide widespread benefits and reduce side effects.
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Melatonin for Jet Lag