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"Drinking a cup of coffee can help counter the more damaging effects caused by jet lag." |
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| Coffee in the Workplace |
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Recognise this experience?
You have just arrived after an overnight flight for your two weeks of holiday
fun and relaxation and you feel groggy. Your body clock is telling you that it
is midnight back home and rather than starting to enjoy your precious time away
you feel tired, fuzzy and have a dull headache and you end up sleeping most of
the first day. Eventually you adjust but, by that time, you are probably on your
way home again!
Whilst experiencing such jet lag may limit your holiday enjoyment, the effect
on your performance in business could have much more serious consequences.
Imagine having to attend a major meeting when you have just flown through six time
zones – chances are you will be less productive and more prone to making mistakes
- hardly the best time to be discussing that important business deal.
Jet lag happens when we disrupt the normal “circadian” rhythms that help us
wake up in the morning and go to sleep at night. Studies show that after flying
long distances most of us suffer a wide range of effects.
In the short term, they include such symptoms as dehydration and discomfort to
legs and feet to long term symptoms that can continue for days after the flight
such as fatigue and broken sleep, disorientation, mild irritability, lack of
concentration and motivation.
In one study undertaken by NASA scientists working with an airline company,
jet lag was shown to reduce significantly our ability to make decisions and
downgrade our attention span by 75%, communications skills by 30% and memory by 20%.
It is estimate that we need one day to adjust back to normal energy levels for
every time zone we cross in our journeys.
So how can coffee help?
The caffeine in coffee has been proven to increase attention span and
vigilance, improve our ability to communicate and to boost our short-term memory. So
drinking a cup of coffee can help counter the more damaging effects caused by jet
lag and help us to function normally despite suffering the effects of jet lag.
Along with bright light and exercise, caffeine can also help the hypothalamus
gland, the main control centre of the body clock in the brain, to shift into a
pattern that fits in with the time zone of our destination. In effect, caffeine
can help reset our body clock to a new schedule. And contrary to common myth,
coffee is no more a diuretic than water.
When you get to your new destination and when you return home, drink coffee on
a regular basis during the day. It will not only help to keep you awake, it will
also be sending signals to your brain to reset your body clock to the local
time.
So next time you go on that long haul flight – remember how that cup of coffee
can help make the most of that happy landing the other end!
For further information, visit References
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