explain to me why, if I get on a 15-hour flight and sleep through most of the flight I’m still sleepy after I get off the flight and I’m still tired and grumpy for the next couple weeks. and cant sleep at night
In: Biology
Quality of sleep is important, so 9 hours on a plane does not equal 9 hours in bed. As for jetlag, your body runs on a circadian rhythm. This influences a bunch of functions including your internal clock, brain chemistry, etc… This can be influenced by various factors.
Let’s say you live in Whoville, the sun rises at 7am and sets at 9pm. You have a 5 hour flight to whereville, where they are 10 hours ahead, sun rises at 5am and sets at 7pm and your plane leaves at noon. Your brain knows 5 hours passes on the plane, it should be 5pm. In reality, it is 10pm. You are primed for early evening, you haven’t even had dinner, but the world around you is going to bed, it’s 5pm for you, and the sun is down even though your body expects sunlight till 9. You end up going to bed at midnight local time, but for you their midnight is still only 7pm your time, the sun should still be up!
You lay in bed and set your alarm for 9 hours ahead. The alarm goes off at 9am local time but you are still 5 hours behind, your mind thinks it’s 4 am and the sun is up?
Your rhythm takes time to adjust and learn the new time. Your body is stuck playing catch up, producing sleep chemicals at noon, and hunger chemicals at 2 am gets confusing.
Your body is adjusting to the difference in times between where you were and where you are now. Your body gets used to the rhythm of going to bed and waking up at certain times, so when you change it drastically it takes a little bit to re-adjust.
**Please read this entire message**
—
Your submission has been removed for the following reason(s):
* ELI5 requires that you *search the ELI5 subreddit for your topic before posting*.
There are no exceptions to this rule.
Users will often either find a thread that meets their needs or find that their question might qualify for an exception to rule 7.
Please see this [wiki entry](http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/how_to_search) for more details (Rule 7).
—
If you would like this removal reviewed, please read the [detailed rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/detailed_rules) first. If you still feel the removal should be reviewed, please [message the moderators.](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fexplainlikeimfive&subject=Can%20you%20review%20my%20thread?)
Latest Answers