Anyone who has flown with or near children can picture it: the crying kid, the frazzled parent and the cranky passengers.
Travelling with children can be tough, and the difficulties can escalate when you cross a time zone or two.
Things don't necessarily improve when you touch down, either.
Jet lag refers to the temporary misalignment of a person's internal body clock with the local time where they are. In other words, the body is still operating according to the time zone it has just come from, rather than the new time zone.
As the name suggests, jet lag is generally caused by air travel — when you cross multiple time zones quickly before the body can adapt.
Yes, jet lag is worse when you travel east.
When travelling east, you are "losing" time.
You might find yourself lying awake at night because your body isn't ready for sleep yet.
When travelling west, your body clock is "behind" the local time.
Fortunately for people travelling west, it's generally easier to stay awake later than it is to fall asleep earlier.
Kids tend to experience similar symptoms to adults, such as:.
Surprisingly, not a lot of research has been done comparing the effects of jet lag in kids with jet lag in adults.
Taking the wrong dose, or taking melatonin at the wrong time, can make jet lag worse — for both adults and kids.
Madeline Sprajcer is a senior lecturer in psychology and Dean J Miller is a sleep and circadian scientist, both at CQUniversity Australia.