---
title: "Jet lag: symptoms, causes & treatment | Sanara Health"
description: "Jet lag happens when your body clock is out of sync after crossing time zones, causing poor sleep, fatigue and poor concentration after long-haul flights."
url: "https://www.sanarahealth.co.uk/conditions/jet-lag/"
source: "Sanara Health"
licence: "Quote with attribution and a link to the url above."
---
# Jet lag: symptoms, causes & treatment

Jet lag happens when your body clock is out of sync after crossing time zones, causing poor sleep, fatigue and poor concentration after long-haul flights.

Editorial information by **Kaiser Khan**. Not clinically reviewed.

## Symptoms

- Difficulty sleeping at destination night
- Daytime fatigue and brain fog
- Irritability or low mood
- Digestive upset after arrival
- Worse symptoms after eastward travel

## Why it happens

Rapid travel across time zones disrupts circadian rhythm faster than the body can adapt — usually one day of recovery per zone crossed.

## Treatment

Timed light exposure, sleep at local night, hydration, and short-course circadian sleep-support tablets at local bedtime for up to five nights where suitable after pharmacy assessment.

## Self-care that helps

Shift sleep before travel if possible; avoid alcohol on the flight; get morning daylight at destination; limit long naps.

## When to get help

Persistent sleep problems weeks after return, or snoring with daytime sleepiness — may indicate sleep apnoea, not jet lag.

[See our jet lag support →](https://www.sanarahealth.co.uk/medicines/malaria/)

Go deeper

## Related guides

[Jet lag treatment UK: tablets, sleep tips and east-west travel — How to treat jet lag when flying from the UK — sleep-timing tablet use, light exposure, sleep hygiene and assessed options for long-haul travel.](https://www.sanarahealth.co.uk/guides/jet-lag-treatment-uk/)

[Travel health UK: malaria tablets and when to start before travel — Anti-malaria tablets for UK travellers — destination matching, start dates, side effects and Fit for Travel guidance.](https://www.sanarahealth.co.uk/guides/travel-health-malaria-pills-uk/)

Available without prescription

## Products that can help

[Everyday health — Vitamin D3: 1000 IU explained](https://www.sanarahealth.co.uk/supplements/vitamin-d3-1000iu/)

[Everyday health — Omega-3 fish oil](https://www.sanarahealth.co.uk/supplements/omega-3-fish-oil/)

[Everyday health — Daily multivitamins](https://www.sanarahealth.co.uk/supplements/daily-multivitamin/)