How Portable Light Boxes Ease Jet Lag
Using SAD Lamps as a Natural Healthy Treatment for Jet-Lag
Nov 10, 2009
Travelling across several time zones often cause chaos to the body clock, leaving the traveller feeling wide awake at midnight or groggy in mid afternoon within the new time zone. The following symptoms may also be experienced:
- low mood
- headaches
- anxiety
- loss of appetite
- low energy levels
- disrupted sleep
- loss of concentration
Prevent Jet Lag
Jet lag or dysrhythmia, as it is also known, occurs when more than 50 delicately orchestrated circadian rhythms are disrupted throughout the body. Without an aid, it is thought to take up to a day per time zone for the body to adjust. In some people the symptoms may linger for up to two weeks. Furthermore, difficulty with adjustment increases with age.
Professor Derk-Jan Dijk, director of the Surrey Sleep Research Centre maintains, “If you fly west, you will find it difficult to stay awake but easy to wake up. If you fly east, typically it is the other way around."(“Sleepless in Seattle,” The Guardian, June 2007).
But help is at hand. Professor Alan Bird, an eye specialist at the Moorfields Eye Hospital, discovered that special light receptor cells in the back of the retina reacted with blue light, causing the pineal gland to produce less melatonin, a sleep hormone. This has been found to effectively manipulate the body’s circadian rhythms during long flights and to help increase alertness for those suffering seasonal affective disorder (SAD) during the dark winter months.
Jet Lag Light Therapy
Light boxes for SAD include the blue wave light spectrum, which exists in natural daylight. Portable light therapy boxes, such as Litebook, Apollo Golite P1 and Litepod are available with built in calculators to provide jet lag remedies for long distance flights.
The calculator is easy to use. The traveller simply inputs the waking time, date and location of departure, and arrival destination. The calculator will then work out a personalised light and dark schedule for the traveller. Following the schedule is important if the symptoms of jet lag are to be allayed. This entails seeking light at specified times and avoiding light at other times.
How to Use the Portable Light Box
A general guide in how the traveller may use the light therapy is as follows:
- Travelling east: use light therapy or seek bright daylight prior to travelling in the morning (destination time)
- Travelling west: use light therapy or seek bright daylight prior to travelling in the morning (destination time)
- Use the light therapy for up to an hour on the day of travel, then use it 15 to 30 minutes on the second day of travel
- Light avoidance is equally as important as light exposure. Exposure to sunlight or daylight at inappropriate times can exacerbate jet lag. Interior lights are fine, for their lux value (or brightness) is much lower than daylight. However, certain travellers have reported further improvement if artificial light is avoided altogether at these times. If the traveller is caught out in bright light, special light blocking sunglasses can be worn to avoid blue light getting onto the retina and causing further disruption to the body clock
Blue Light Therapy to Reset Circadian Rhythms
Using a portable light box is an effective treatment for jet lag, helping to speed the adjustment of the body clock to the time of day within the new destination. This can also be used for shift work and as a treatment for SAD. Blue wave therapy has been found to emulate the effects of natural daylight, suppressing the sleep hormone melatonin and so increasing alertness.
Note: Although the portable light box is safe to use, due to its brightness, it is not advisable to stare at it. Of course, a trip to the GP is advisable before using a light box or any other device.
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