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Short Wave

Don't Let Jet Lag Ruin Your Holiday Plans

Short Wave

NPR

Daily News, Nature, Life Sciences, Astronomy, Science, News

4.7 β€’ 6K Ratings

πŸ—“οΈ 18 November 2024

⏱️ 16 minutes

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Summary

Getting enough sleep regularly can be tough β€” and even harder when you're traveling for the holidays. "We need sleep like we need water," says Jade Wu, a behavioral sleep medicine psychologist and author of the book Hello Sleep. She and host Regina G. Barber discuss what's happening to our bodies when we get jet lag and the clocks in our body get out of whack. They also get into the science of the circadian rhythm and how to prepare for a long flight across time zones.

Check out CDC's website for tips on minimizing jet lag.

Want to hear more science of holiday living? Email us your ideas to [email protected] β€” we'd love to hear from you!

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt Family Foundation,

0:07.4

working toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all.

0:11.5

On the web at theshmit.org.

0:14.7

You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.

0:21.3

Hey, shortwavers, the holidays are approaching, and that often means lots of travel.

0:29.3

Across the country or internationally, which often just, like, knocks me out.

0:34.2

But that exhaustion can happen even if you're not traveling.

0:37.2

I stayed in exactly my house,

0:39.3

but I had a baby, which means that my schedule got topsy-turvy, turned all the way around,

0:45.9

and it felt like I had jet lag, even though I didn't go anywhere. That's Jade Wu, a behavioral

0:51.4

sleep medicine psychologist and the author of the book, Hello Sleep.

0:55.7

And I called her up because I, and I suspect many of you shortwavers, are about to put our

1:00.7

bodies through that exhaustion again. In a few weeks, my partner and I are going to Australia,

1:05.8

New Zealand, which has basically the opposite day and night cycle from here in D.C.

1:09.9

So we're going to be

1:11.2

extremely jet-legged. Jet-leg is when your body very quickly changes time zones so that your

1:19.5

internal body clock becomes mismatched with the outside environment. Our bodies have billions of

1:25.7

clocks. They're in our cells, our organs, our brains, and they make up our circadian rhythm.

1:34.9

The circadian system should work like a symphony that plays in sync together and on time.

1:43.7

If all our clocks run as they should and together in sync,

1:48.6

then our circadian rhythms are doing great.

1:51.7

And so that's why when we get jet lagged or, you know, have a baby and your whole schedule

...

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