Overcoming jet lag is fairly easy for people who only fly once in a while, possibly just a couple of times a year on holiday or for the occasional business trip, but for regular long-haul fliers and aircrews, jet lag can bring various health problems that can become virtually permanent.

Long-haul travelers will be familiar with the interference with their sleep pattern and the insomnia that can result from a long trip, as well as such things as irritability, changes in mood, stomach problems and difficulty in handling information. But, for the very frequent flyer these normally transient symptoms are a part of daily life and are regularly joined by menstrual cycle problems for women and also by short-term psychiatric disturbances for a number of people. So how do you go about managing jet lag?

The chief factors in influencing the degree of jet lag experienced, apart from the frequency of travel, are the distances involved, the direction of travel and your age.

If you frequently travel across only one or two time zones then any affects are likely to be very mild. But, as soon as you start to cross more than three world time zones, and especially once you begin frequently traveling across six or more time zones, jet lag symptoms will begin to markedly increase.

Jet lag symptoms are also much more obvious if you travel east and tend to affect you less if you fly west. For example, if you are traveling from London to Singapore on holiday you will experience greater jet lag on arrival in Singapore at the beginning of your holiday than you will in London when you get home.

In general when traveling east you can expect jet lag to last for several days and a good guide is about two thirds of the number of time zones traveled across. For example, if you cross six time zones you may expect jet lag to affect you for about four days. When traveling west jet lag should be expected to last about half this time.

Another important element when it comes to jet lag is age and, as you age, you will find that you are affected more and more by jet lag.

A true jet lag cure does not exist although there is a great deal that can be done to assist in reducing the symptoms of jet lag.