SWIPE Suggestions for Pilots,Crew Members & Frequently Flying Passengers
Jet lag is the result of biorhythm disruptions and a dysfunctional liver. Biorhythms are responsible for the harmony between the internal and external environment. Biorhythms are the set of sensors and chemicals which sense change in outside air, body position, temperature, pressure, humidity, food timings and sleep pattern etc. Whenever they sense changes in above mentioned factors, the functions of liver are modified to align the internal environment with the external environment.
Liver has to do many chemical changes to cope with the huge amount of external stress on the body. Liver has to do this readjustment to keep human body in a safe surviving mode. Biological clock is one of the important biorhythms which is connected to sun movement.
The jet lag is medically referred to as “desynchronosis, is a physiological condition which results from alterations to the body’s circadian rhythms; it is classified as one of the circadian rhythm sleep disorders. Jet lag results from rapid long-distance transmeridian (east–west or west–east) travel, as on a jet plane”.
SWIPE Causes of Jet Lag
Jet lag is a chronobiological-related problem, similar to issues often induced by shift work. When traveling across a number of time zones, the body clock will be out of synchronization with the destination time, as it experiences daylight and darkness contrary to the rhythms to which it has grown accustomed: the body’s natural pattern is upset, as the rhythms that dictate times for eating, sleeping, hormone regulation and body temperature variations no longer correspond to the environment nor to each other in some cases.
Important External Factors
Other important external factors are the plane environment with artificial air pressure, artificial air composition, controlled temperature, high noise, and lot of artificial and processed foods served during the flight.
Processed foods served in wrong combinations at wrong timings are a major factor in prolonging the physiological effects of jet lag or frequent flying related disorders.
I have seen about 10-15 pilots with bad holistic health at a young age. I have observed an early onset of signs of aging in them. Pilots or crew members suffer more from mental ageing because of their high stress job.
If a person suffers from a speedy mental aging, the other two aging phenomenon like chronological or biological automatically set at an advanced pace. They start suffering from chronic degenerative disorders at an early age
SWIPE Diagnostic Tools
I have personally observed the effects of jet lag on my body while travelling to various destinations. As one of the important SLP diagnostic tools is pulse analysis, I found that after about three to four hours of flight my liver pulse has start jumping, which indicates an overloaded liver.
Liver is the master biorhythm regulator but both are interdependent also. The disruption of body clock rhythm, sleep rhythm, subtle stress and abnormal food timings lead to a hyper-liver state which is responsible for multiple chemical adjustments to withstand this condition.
If your basic health was optimum, then your liver will cope effectively with this massive shift in the biorhythms. If you have a dysfunctional liver and you travel frequently then you have to be very careful.
Symptoms of Jet Lag
The symptoms of jet lag can be quite varied, depending on the frequency of flying, amount of flight time, and time of the day when journey starts. Other personal factors are medical status, personality, immune status and individual planning before travelling.
An individual with sound medical health, calm mind and good planning abilities is going to suffer less and will not have residual jet lag effects. In a healthy person there are no Jetlag symptoms, otherwise symptoms can last for 3-10 days. They may include the following:
- Headaches
- Fatigue, irregular sleep patterns, insomnia
- Lower limbs swellings and numbness
- Disorientation, grogginess, irritability
- Mild depression
- Bloating and loss of apatite
- Constipation or diarrhea
SWIPE Management to Avoid/Minimize the Effects of Jet Lag
It is possible to avoid or minimize the effects of jet lag by following some basic steps before, during, and after the flight
1-Before the Flight
It is recommended to visit the doctor to plan a coping strategy for medical conditions that require monitoring, including when to take medications or any other necessary detail.
5-7 days prior to flying become careful about your dietary intake, and try to follow SWIPE eight rules of diet correction available at my website.
These rules will align your biorhythms and will try to bring liver in an optimum functional state. Focus on 6-8 hours night sleep, so that you don’t carry any sleep debt. You can also start antioxidants, omega three fatty acids and probiotics two weeks prior to travelling.
2-During the Flight
- To avoid dehydration, passengers are discouraged from taking alcoholic beverages and caffeine, as caffeine disrupts sleeping schedules.
- It is recommended to drink plenty of water to help counteract the effects of the dry atmosphere inside the plane.
- Eat small portions of food and avoid meal if it is 2-3 hours later than your usual meal time and then satisfy your hunger by taking only fruits, desserts, salads, nuts or dry fruits.
- Be careful regarding your food combinations. Strictly avoid taking drinks, juices, fruits, tea, coffee and desserts with or right after your meals.
- If you want take these sugary foods take them 15-30 minutes before your next meal.
- This simple precaution will reduce the intensity of jet lag surely by 50%.
- Vitamin C rich fruits and dairy products facilitate liver in handling the chemistry of jetlag.
- Avoid using I pad, laptops or videogames, watching movies or using cell phones during flight, their bright light will further disrupt your biorhythms.
- Listening to good music, doing recommended exercises, meditation, breathing exercises also help in decreasing flight related disorders on short and long term basis as well.
3- Upon Arrival
- Now your priority should be to focus on sleep and cover your sleep debt also.
- By getting extra sleep you will be out of jet lag within few hours.
- Another helpful way to minimize jet lag is to adapt to the local time and eat accordingly.
- Also, exposure to sunlight during the day is helpful. Do follow SLP eight rules of diet correction upon arrival as well.
SWIPE Suggestions for Airline Administration
- Pilots and crew members when selected should be in a perfect holistic health, which an integrated physician or holistic physician
can check. - Their holistic checkup should be done quarterly.
- A family interaction will be required to assess the role of that person in the home environment.
- Their lifestyle should be nature oriented.
- Airline staff food should be natural and prepared in a healthy cooking manner.
- Fish, nuts, berries, milk, cheese and yogurt should form major portion of their routine diet plan.
- Yoga, breathing exercise, stretching should be part of routine and little space should be allocated in plane. 10-15 minutes of these
exercises for the crew and for the frequently flying passengers will reduce the effects of jetlag.
