s0ssos

I have pretty bad jetlag, and also happen to be very sensitivity to daylight (it wakes me up and then I cannot sleep, if it comes streaming through the cracks in the curtains). I know some other people who don't seem to get jetlag, who also have no issue sleeping late into the day with daylight.

Is there a correlation?

elexianyx

For me, I'm very sensitive to sunlight and just any bright lighting in general. Jetlag used to be a terrible thing for me has been a more mental effect than physical that aids the situation.
Perhaps there would be a correlation? Even though I tried to pick those flights that can offer the perfect jetlag adjusting time, but the first1 hour of food serving and other people's reading light can disturb my attempt to sleep easily.

televisor

Just wondering: have you tried a good eye-mask (cost: $10), and a set of silicone ear plugs (also $10, for a pack of 3 pairs, each pair can be reused 5-6 times)?

Those two combined have hugely improved my jetlag management, in addition to partially adjusting sleep/waking times before a journey. I used to be completely unable to deal with jetlag before then. FWIW I'm also sensitive to sunlight, and usually wake up when there's any hint of sun.

The_Bouncer

I am not at all sensitive to sunlight and always slept very well during the day when I worked night shifts.

However, I have never been able to sleep on any flight, regardless of cabin class. Morning arrivals are hard, but I just force myself to stay awake until late afternoon and sleep until 3am or so, then I'm fixed.

ajGoes

My wife is terribly sensitive to light at night, easily awoken, and has trouble getting back to sleep. I'm much less sensitive and more likely to have an uninterrupted night's sleep.

I'm the one who suffers the most with jetlag. She has a way of barreling through that gets her adjusted a lot faster.

So our data points wouldn't support your hypothesis.

sweetsleep

Perhaps there is an age related issue with jet lag? No idea how old the OP is(and I won't ask)but for me as I am now growing closer to retirement I really struggle with long haul flights from east to west. No problem for me if flying west to east and I do find that making sure I see as much daylight/sunlight as possible the day that I arrive east of the US benefits me greatly.
No real cure for jet lag. I do believe your own circadian rhythm impacts all of us differently. Wish that were not so.
I am a very early riser due to work so arriving early am in the UK,Europe,etc from the US is okay with me.
But flying back from Africa,Middle East,Europe is just horrible for me. Tincture of time to cure it is all I can hope for once I arrive back home.

I do try to stay hydrated with lots of water on long haul flights and only drink coffee for the morning arrival. Depending on when my outbound flight takes off I prefer to eat dinner before I board(even in a premium cabin) so that I can maximize sleep time onboard. That's all the advice I can offer.

The_Bouncer

I'm not sure that it's an age. I think it's just that it affects different people in different ways. A lot depends on how well you sleep on flights.

I am perfectly fine flying west, as long as I'm on a day flight, but I absolutely dread overnight westbounds (the kind where you take off at 23:00 and land 13 hours later at 05:00). This stretches my total time awake dangerously close to 48 hours.

timfountain

IMHO I really don't think light is directly responsible for JL, yes it is a factor, especially in getting the body clock reset, but the main issue is your body clock being out of whack with the local time.

IntlRabbit

In case you misssed it. Researchers at Stanford. Jet lag treatment using exposure to flashing light.

https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-ne...treatment.html

Lewis42

For me, jet lag really isn't an issue, last week I was on 3 different continents. I was tired because of lack of sleep but not due to jet lag.

Light generally doesn't affect my sleep nor does a bit of noise.

Then again everyone who has travelled says it's harder as you get older and I am still fairly young and sometimes fairly healthy. One thing for me that makes a big difference when flying is if I drink booze I always feel 10x worse, even if it's only a few glasses.

Palal

I'm sensitive to daylight, but don't get jetlag.

JerryFF

Light is the single most important environmental clue your body uses to "tell time" and hence to reset to a new location. Light sends a signal to a portion of the hypothalamus in your brain where the main control center of your body clock exists and helps reset your clock.

One's ability to sleep is greatly affected by the level of the sleep hormone, melatonin. Normally, melatonin rises during the night and induces sleep, and if one is exposed to light during the night, the light can cause a significant drop in melatonin levels, and thus prevent one from sleeping through the night. Melatonin is produced in the pineal gland, adjacent to the main portion of your brain. Thus, light has two effects, one on your hypothalamus to control the clock and a second effect on the pineal to control melatonin levels.

There is an important connection between these two effects of light - namely, that the normal rise and fall of melatonin during the normal day/night cycle is also an important clue your body uses to reset to a new time zone. It sounds as if your melatonin levels are hypersensitive to light, judging by your night time reaction to light. It could be that during east-west travel, in addition to the positive effect of light in resetting your body clock by its affect on the hypothalamus, light is also causing a disruption in your normal melatonin levels by its affect on the pineal, and thus the normal adjustment of your clock is disrupted and you get jet lag.

maxp0wers

Agree with the above. I've also found that staying well hydrated and using moisturizer helps a ton too. It's really easy to get dried out on a plane which makes things very difficult on your body.

Proper balance of magnesium helps too.

I would natural sunlight is the biggest disruption to your sleep cycle, the other ideas help you get proper sleep to adjust

atsak

I haven't found jet lag harder per se as I got older, though I have found I notice it for an extra day or maybe even two (on a big change) from when I was 20. I hardly sleep on planes unless I am in the front of the bus and take a med, and when I have been able to do so it's been much quicker to recover. So for me jet lag is caused by sleep deprivation or poor quality sleep on the plane much more than anything else. I am not light sensitive for sleeping, occasionally been known to fall asleep on the floor with a child climbing on me.

Doc Savage

Bright full spectrum light definitely helps reset the body clock. Lots and lots of research on this.

If you want to reset to your new time zone, bright light in the morning will help get you there.