Raise your hand if you have ever experienced the infamous "Jet lag" phase in your life while traveling! I'm almost 100% percent that there will be a crowd of people with their hands up. So what exactly is "Jet lag?" According to Mary Choy and Rebecca L. Salbu, "Jet lag, also known as circadian desynchrony, is a sleep disorder in which there is a mismatch with the body's natural circadian rhythm and the external environment as a result of rapid travel across multiple time zones." It is definitely not the best situation to be in especially when all you want to do is enjoy wherever you are geographically located and consummate all the work you have.

Experiencing any form of jet lag is proven to cause detrimental health hazards and it should not be taken lightly. Charmane Eastman, a professor at Rush University Medical Center based in Chicago of Behavioral Sciences addresses in her research that jet lag has the potential to cause cancer and increased risk of cardiovascular diseases along with Type II diabetes.

While researching the scientific process of a "Jet lag" experience, I have found out that "It takes longer to reset or re-entrain the circadian clock following eastward than westward flight which can be explained, at least in part, by the fact that the average free-running period (tau) of the human circadian clock is slightly longer than 24 h. Thus, most humans already have a natural tendency to drift slightly later each day, and it is much more difficult to phase advance the human circadian clock than to phase delay it, even in older people." This was immensely fascinating to learn about and it is miraculous to understand how the circadian rhythm functions in relatively unique ways between humans.

Whenever I'm traveling to extremely distant geographical locations, the time differences are usually quite extreme and it sure does take a little bit of time to get used to the new time zone and location. However, it is not impossible and doesn't have to become a health-damaging catalyst if you take the necessary precautions beforehand!