As someone who hops between time zones anywhere from one to three times a month, understanding how jet lag affects my sleep—and how I can best take care of my body when traveling—was one of my top priorities when checking into Sensei Lanai, A Four Seasons Resort Then, you can get the Rest and Reset Program.
While it became immediately clear in my one-on-one sessions with the Sensei guides that my travel writer lifestyle isn’t conducive to sleep consistency—one of the most important factors in getting a good night’s rest—I came away from the experience with a few concrete strategies for ensuring my sleep patterns are optimized, no matter where I am in the world. One of the easiest ways? Sunrise and sunset.
There is no cure for jet lagJim Cahill, a Sensei Lanai mindset guide, says Travel + Leisure. Cahill, a board-certified biofeedback specialist and former Scripps Research Institute brain researcher, is intimately aware of the many factors that affect our sleep patterns. Light is one of the elements that Cahill says is very effective in “setting and resetting” our sleep patterns.
“The brain ‘knows’ what time of day it is, in part, based on the signals from specialized receptors in the eyes whose primary function is not vision, but rather to determine the time of day based on the color of the light they encounter,” he explains. The colors of sunrise and the sunset are spread through the atmosphere, which helps maintain our sleep cycles. They also reset our circadian clock each day. If you have just returned from a long flight to Europe on the red-eye, you can reset your circadian clock to help you sleep at the right time and lessen the effects of jet-lag.
Cahill claims that the blue light in the morning “suppresses melatonin release” and releases cortisol at the same time, which is what he describes as “a kind of built-in coffee that gets us up every morning.” A good dose of early morning light will improve your sleep. For at least a few minutes after you wake up, expose your eyes directly to morning sunlight. He recommends that you get the natural stuff. Even clear windows or glasses will distort and filter light. So, let your naked eyes be bathed in direct natural light.
As evening approaches, you want to switch to light that is lower in intensity and more on the warmer side of the spectrum—just like the sunset. Cahill says that this allows melatonin to increase, which “signals both mentally and emotional to start spinning down to that lovely soft landing in restorative sleep.”
This means that it is even more important to avoid using your phone when bedtime is approaching, or to at least switch on the night mode. The device’s bright blue light can disrupt sleep patterns more than a long day of travel.
