Frequent time-zone travel disrupts sleep consistency and impairs sleep quality. Light exposure is a primary regulator of circadian timing through specialized retinal receptors sensitive to color. Sunrise and sunset deliver color cues that help maintain and reset daily sleep rhythms. Morning blue light suppresses melatonin and elevates cortisol, promoting wakefulness and aligning sleep timing. No definitive cure for jet lag exists, but deliberate adjustments to light exposure and circadian timing can minimize its effects and help travelers fall asleep at appropriate local times. Simple practices like observing sunrise and sunset provide practical signals to reset the circadian clock during travel.
"There is no cure for jet lag; the best we can do at present is adjust what we can to minimize its impact," Jim Cahill, a mindset guide at Sensei Lanai, tells Travel + Leisure. A board-certified biofeedback therapist and former brain researcher at Scripps Research Institute, Cahill is intimately familiar with the multitude of elements that influence our sleep patterns. One of those elements is light, which he says is highly effective for "setting and resetting the body's sleep timing."
"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. "Both sunrise and sunset spread different colors through the atmosphere that help maintain our sleep rhythms, essentially resetting our circadian rhythm each day."
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