Anyone who has flown with or near children can picture it: the crying kid, the frazzled parent and the cranky passengers.
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who → fly → it
Travelling with children can be tough, and the difficulties can escalate when you cross a time zone or two.
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you → travel → zone
Things don't necessarily improve when you touch down, either.
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you → improve → ?
After long-haul travel, jet lag can impact our health for days afterwards.
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lag → impact → days
Most adults have experienced jet lag, but what about when kids are involved?
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kids → experience → lag
Jet lag refers to the temporary misalignment of a person's internal body clock (or circadian rhythm) with the local time where they are.
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they → refer → time
In other words, the body is still operating according to the time zone it has just come from, rather than the new time zone.
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it → operate → zone
As the name suggests, jet lag is generally caused by air travel — when you cross multiple time zones very quickly before the body can adapt.
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body → suggest → zones
It can make you feel fatigued and sluggish during the day and make it hard to sleep at night in your new location.
Is it worse flying in a certain direction?
Yes, jet lag is worse when you travel east.
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you → make → direction
When travelling east, you are essentially "losing" time.
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you → travel → time
This means when you try to go to bed at your destination, your body clock still thinks it is much earlier in the day.
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it → mean → day
You might find yourself lying awake at night because your body isn't ready for sleep yet.
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body → find → sleep
Or you might wake up at a time that feels like the middle of the night.
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that → wake → night
When travelling west, your body clock is essentially "behind" the local time.
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clock → travel → time
This means you may start to feel sleepy earlier than usual because your body thinks it is later than it really is.
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it → mean → ?
Fortunately for people travelling west, it's generally easier to stay awake later than it is to fall asleep earlier.
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it → travel → people
This means you can often push through some afternoon or early evening sleepiness until a more reasonable bedtime.
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you → mean → bedtime
How does jet lag affect kids?
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lag → affect → kids
Kids tend to experience similar symptoms to adults, such as:
- finding it hard to get to sleep or stay asleep
- being cranky
- not wanting to eat at mealtime
- nausea
- generally feeling fatigued.
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it → tend → nausea
Surprisingly, not a lot of research has been done comparing the effects of jet lag in kids with jet lag in adults.
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lot → do → adults
What we do know suggests kids might actually be affected a little less than adults.
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kids → know → adults
This might be because children produce more melatonin, which could help them adjust to new time zones a little quicker.
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them → produce → zones
Melatonin is the "sleepiness hormone" that our body naturally produces.
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body → produce → that
Evidence also suggests that as we age, we become less tolerant of jet lag.
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we → suggest → lag
However, most of this evidence has looked at comparisons of young adults and older adults, so may not necessarily reflect the differences between adults and children.
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most → look → adults
Tips to reduce jet lag before you fly
The good news is, you can start adjusting your or your child's body clock before you leave home.
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you → reduce → home
This generally requires precise control of light exposure and possibly adjusting sleep times in the days before departure.
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This → require → departure
Every hour you shift before boarding is one less hour to catch up at the other end — though this means you are starting the jet lag early, at home.
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you → shift → home
Shifting the body clock before travel is demanding for anyone but with children you are also managing someone else's schedule, energy and patience — someone who might not understand why they need to sleep an hour earlier than usual.
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they → shift → schedule
However, from the moment you disembark, there's plenty you can do.
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you → disembark → moment
Tips once you land
Your most powerful jet lag tool is free: daylight.
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tool → land → ?
As a general rule of thumb, being exposed to morning light shifts your body clock earlier.
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exposed → expose → clock
Light in the late afternoon or evening shifts your body clock later.
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Light → shift → clock
Getting this timing right at your destination is the single most effective thing you can do to combat jet lag for you and your child.
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you → get → you
Habitual time cues (everyday things that signal the time to your body, such as meal times or bedtime routines) can also help with the shift to a new time zone.
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that → signal → zone
Where you can, keep bedtime routines consistent.
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you → keep → routines
A familiar sequence of bath, story and lights out carries more weight than most parents realise.
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parents → carry → weight
For young children, routine is one of the strongest signals that sleep is coming, regardless of what the clock says.
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clock → come → what
What about tech — or medication?
Most jet lag apps rely on the same principles: that light, melatonin and exercise can shift the body clock, and that timing matters.
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timing → rely → clock
If you are using an app or related technology, the amount of personalisation it includes is likely to determine how useful it is.
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it → use → personalisation
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia