How Travel Affects Your Sleep?

Traveling by road, rail or air you want to be and feel your best. But when you are away from your home it gets tough as you are in a new place with new people and to top it all; you don’t get good quality sleep. Coinciding with travel, there is an irregular sleep pattern due to excess work, jet lag, etc., fatigue or sometimes weak immunity. Below are some of the travel affects on your sleep.

Jet lag

If the travel you are undertaking is in the same time-zone as your current location, there is considerably less effect on your sleep. But if you are traveling to a different time zone, it can impact your sleep pattern. The human body has an internal 24-hour clock which helps maintain the day-night cycle and is called as the circadian rhythm. When you travel across time zone, the internal body clock goes out of sync. That is because light which is the primary cue for the clock changes and the body takes time to readjust to the current settings. The body takes a day to adjust to an hour of shift in time, so traveling across can mess up the sleep patterns. The best way to avoid jet lag is to modify the sleep habits to the new time a few days before travel. After you arrive at the destination, spend the waking hours outside in the light as much as possible to adjust your sleep to the current time and location.

Work during Travel Can Affect Sleep

People who travel on business are the fatigued most as it is a cruel combination of stressful job, tight schedules, meetings and late nights. Added to this mix are alcohol and food, which leads to poor quality sleep. The longer you are on business travel, the sleep deprivation is more and hence more side-effects. You are irritable, have less attention span and are generally in a bad mood due to lack of sleep and do not perform their best work.

Sleeping In an Unknown Environment

You may not be traveling across time ones but yet your sleep is affected. It can be because your body takes time to adjust to the new surroundings. The hotel room may be good with a good mattress and a pleasant environment but the body is used to sleeping in your bedroom. If youcan try to bring something familiar like your memory foam pillow or you can use a face mask to block light.

Travel Can Cause Sickness

Your immune system can take a beating when you travel. Your body is more exposed to diseases as it comes in contact with different germs than it is accustomed to. Moreover, travel by air can also be a great breeding space for microbes as there is less air-circulation and area is confined, thus common cold is often seen among travelers. Moreover, the hotel rooms are used by many people, and the linen may have allergens and pollens. WakeFit recommends travelers to ask for fresh linen every day they stay in the room. Also, the destination city may have pollutants and germs that can cause sickness. Additionally, there is sleep deprivation when you travel and that weakens the immunity and cause a cyclic effect of lack of sleep due to illness.

Travel need not always end with sleep deprivation. There are a few ways to get enough sleep like adjusting to the time one you are traveling to before you land, so does strategic planning of travel. Traveling in the night will not disrupt your sleep and there will be fewer passengers hence quieter. Eating well, drinking less alcohol and staying hydrated will help in getting a better quality sleep.