Jet lag is caused by your body clock being out of sync with your new time zone. Your body clock is what regulates your sleep pattern, keeping you alert during the day and sending you off to sleep at night.
To work out the time your body clock uses light and mealtimes. For example if it’s dark and you’ve just had your final meal of the day, your body clock knows that it must be evening and that it’ll be time to fall asleep in the next few hours.
When you travel to a new time zone the sun sets and rises at different times and your meal times change. This causes your body clock to go out of sync. It gets confused and doesn’t know what time it is. The many bodily rhythms associated with sleep and wakefulness get thrown off course resulting in you having problems both staying awake and falling asleep. Your body clock eventually adjusts to the new time zone but it can take a few days.
But jet lag isn’t an inevitability. There are ways you can limit the effects of jet lag. With some careful planning you can avoid jet lag completely. The infographic below will give you a few tips on how to do this. See the article How to Avoid and Overcome Jet Lag for even more tips.