Help is on the way: Jet Lag Rooster offers a schedule to help travelers adjust …

By
Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED:

07:00 GMT, 11 January 2013

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UPDATED:

11:51 GMT, 11 January 2013

Every person who has stepped on a plane in the morning and walked off several time zones away from home understands the way jet lag can throw everything about a trip off balance for several days.

A new website taps into the science of the body's circadian rhythms and uses a computer algorithm to help world travelers adjust to the change in time zone more quickly.

Jet Lag Rooster calculates when travelers should seek sunlight - even if they're sleepy - and when they should seek darkness - even if they're wide awake - to minimize jet lag.

Help is on the way: Jet Lag Rooster offers a schedule to help travelers adjust their internal clocks

The site was created by Jay Olson, a psychology instructor at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, after he had a terrible time adjusting to the time change when he visited Greece.

In an article on the topic he wrote for Scientific American magazine, he revealed that he slept through the afternoon for his first week of the trip.

The symptoms of jet lag can dramatically curtail the fun - or productivity - of a long-distance trip. And frequent bouts of jet lag have been associated with higher rates of cancer in mice.

Jet lag is likely to cause fatigue, but it can also result in trouble thinking clearly and problems with the gastrointestinal tract.

However, he says, following a few simple steps can help the body reset its circadian rhythms and cancel out jet lag.

On the go: Crossing several time zones can result in jet lag that can derail an entire week's worth of productivity

The Jet Lag Rooster site asks for the traveler's place of origin and destination, the dates, times and length of the flight, as well as normal sleeping hours.

A typical London to New York flight leaving at 9am, for example, takes eight hours in real time, but puts the traveler in the United States at noon local time.

The site recommends seeking light - either through daylight or an artificial light box - until 11pm local time on the first day - that is, staying up until 4am GMT.

The second day of the trip, Mr Olson's algorithm says travelers should seek light until 12.30am local time.

On the third day, the traveler should use an artificial light box from 10pm until 2am.

By the fourth day, circadian rhythms should become normal.

Mr Olson wrote in Scientific American that since he began training his body in this way, he has never again experienced jet lag after a long-haul flight.