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This travel tip just might light up your life.
Jet lag is the bane of international travel, but experts say adjusting to local light is the best way to beat the ailment.
“Eastward travel tends to be harder on the body than westward travel because it requires the clock to advance (shift earlier), which is biologically more difficult than delaying (shifting later),” Dr. Lynette Gogol, a board-certified neurologist and lifestyle medicine physician, told Travel + Leisure.
“The more time zones crossed and the longer the journey, the more disrupted the circadian system becomes.”
Because of this, Gogol explained that “well-timed light exposure” is one of the fastest and most effective ways to recover from jet lag.
“Light directly resets the circadian clock, but timing matters. Getting light at the wrong time can prolong jet lag, while getting it at the right time speeds recovery.”
According to Gogol, when traveling eastward, morning light will help move the body clock earlier, so it will be easier to fall asleep and wake up on time. Evening light should be dim in the hour before bed.
When traveling westward, light in the late afternoon or early evening will delay the clock, so going to bed later will feel more natural, and bright light right before sleep should be minimized.
“The body adjusts more easily when it receives a clear signal about which direction to shift,” Gogol shared.
If natural light isn’t possible, a bright light box can help as well. “Morning exposure to bright light, typically around 10,000 lux for 20 to 30 minutes, can help advance the clock after eastward travel, but it must be timed carefully,” she advised.
Other experts agreed, too. While Kelsey Pabst, a registered nurse and medical reviewer at the Cerebral Palsy Center, did suggest using 0.5-3 mg of melatonin to help with bed time, she noted that “Jet lag is mostly a problem of light, not sleep.”
She also recommended wearing an eye mask to avoid “any possible light” — especially when flying over a single night or for 6-hour plus time zone changes.
“Jet lag isn’t just about losing sleep. It happens when your internal body clock falls out of sync with the local light–dark cycle at your destination,” Gogol added.
“Light is the strongest signal to the brain’s master clock, which is why jet lag affects more than sleep alone. Energy, mood, digestion, and mental sharpness are often disrupted as well,”
