Sunglasses prevent jet lag? Really?

Alright I can guess what you're thinking -- "Yeah right, sunglasses prevent jet lag my butt!" Having experienced some extreme and long-lasting jet lag recently, I too find it hard to believe that a simple pair of sunglasses could have helped me out. However, knowing how hard it was to drag myself to work in the morning while suffering from long -haul flight-related lack of sleep, I was curious about what this article had to say.

It claims that the results of a study conducted by the Edinburgh Sleep Centre suggests that fliers can adjust their internal body clocks (yes, there IS such a think according to the piece) by adjusting their amount of light intake. If you don't wear sunglasses, it takes 1 day to readjust to normal sleeping patterns for every hour of time zone flown toward the west and even more when flying east.

According to the study, the trick is to wear sunglasses during the last few hours of an overnight flight and to continue to do so for the first few hours after getting off the plane and this should help with jet lag. The piece also mentions that many make the mistake of resorting to drinking alcohol to help them sleep, which doesn't help in the long run. For more information and some tips on avoiding and dealing with jet lag, check out the article here.