physiology
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Jet lag 0 seconds

Follow a representative body-clock shift over the week after an eastward flight across six time zones.

Representative model
Change event
Representative whole-body physiology diagramActive organs become brighter as the timeline moves.
Timing signals travel in the blood

The pacemaker's timing reaches tissues through rhythmic signals carried in the circulation. The evening rise in melatonin is the phase marker most often measured in travel studies, and it moves gradually as the clock resynchronises.

The shift happens day by day

Each day the internal schedule moves a little toward local time. Reported eastward shifts are on the order of about an hour a day, so several time zones mean several days, and the direction of travel changes the pace.

What the misalignment looks like day to day

While internal and local time disagree, night sleep is often fragmented, daytime alertness dips, and appetite and digestion can arrive at an unfamiliar hour. These ease as the offset narrows.

Interactive 3D is loading into this same frame contract.

00:00:00
  • Arrival · 00:00:00
  • First local night · 12:00:00
  • First full local day · 24:00:00
  • Shift underway · 48:00:00
  • Sleep begins to settle · 72:00:00
  • Most of the shift completed · 120:00:00
  • End of the teaching window · 168:00:00
Happening now

Local clocks have moved six hours ahead; the internal schedule is still close to the departure zone, so the displayed offset is at its widest.

Explore the mechanism Local time jumps; the body clock does not

A flight moves local clock time by hours. The internal circadian schedule that times sleep, alertness, hormone release and digestion stays close to the timing of the departure zone.

Evidence for this step

Crossing several time zones faster than the circadian system can follow typically leaves internal body timing out of step with local clock time, and that misalignment is what generates jet-lag symptoms. moderate · View sources

Time: 0 seconds. Milestone: Arrival. Active anatomy: Endocrine timing signals, Bloodstream. Metrics: Body-clock offset behind local time: typically between 5.5 and 6.5 h; Daytime sleepiness: Moderate daytime sleepiness may be noticed; Night sleep continuity, compared with usual nights: steady. Sensations: Daytime tiredness (likely), A shift in appetite and digestion (possible)
  • Whole-body context: 0%
  • Endocrine timing signals: 85%
  • Bloodstream: 60%
  • Digestive system: 55%