Damage By Jet Lag And the Night Shift

I'm amazed at how we take care of our bodies and while some of it is unavoidable, there are steps we can do to minimize the impact of stress on our physical body.  In an article in The Telegraph, they discuss some of the research that is being done to understand how we are affected by jet lag and the night shift.

In both of these events, they disrupt the normal circadian rhythm and actually throw gene sequences out of sync when the sleep patterns deviated from what was the norm in these people studied.  Our bodies are biologically made to operate in a certain way and although we may interrupt that schedule, this is a biological reality.  The body can adapt, but each adaptation often brings stress with it.  Remember that stress can be positive or negative and stress is anything that causes change to the body.


From work I've done and what I have experienced in my own life, I believe that if you take the time out to really recharge your batteries on a daily basis, some of this is not an issue.  I would love to be able to test this idea fully.


If you don't get the restorative time in your body, then you are in a state of physical breakdown in your body.  It may not happen to the degree that  you can easily see it, but little by little it takes a toll on your body.  Often it shows up in major health situations and then we end up in a state of panic, rather than at a point where we can be proactive.

Waiting until the weekend or a vacation to try and relax is like trying to go all week without drinking water.  You may survive these things, but at great physical damage and drain to your body.

Stress is not something that you can just wish away.  It is real and it happens all the time in our day.  Stress can be positive or negative, but stress is any change to our body.  If your nervous system is already revved up like 99.9% of the population, then the nervous system has no capacity to mitigate any added stress. Stress in our body and our life is reality.

Each day that we go through life, we encounter stress.  Even if someone that meditates all day long, has stress in the body.  Repetitive stress in our life causes great damage not only to our body, but to our quality of life.  Without release, the build up of daily stress will catch up with us in some way and at some point in the future.  You might think you are escaping it right now and you may not be paying attention to it, but it does not mean it does not exist.

In the example of jet lag and working the night shift, I think you can do things to help lessen their affects.  One of the things I do is use relaxing music sequences at night to help me sleep deeper.  I try to get exercise in like walking or working out where my body can release built up tension in my muscle tissue.  I focus my mind on releasing and letting go of events that happen during my day and experiences I face which are stored in our body.  These are just some of the things I do.

Of course, to let go of the stress, it means that we need to be mindful of what is taking place in our body.  Too many go through life thinking happy thoughts all day, working so hard to avoid anything that is stressful.  At least, that's what they think they are doing.  If you are oblivious to the stress residing in your body, you are just asking for problems in your life.  You are reducing the quality of your life.  Be true to yourself and be true to your body because if you don't, no one else will do that for you.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 1/21/14 by Don Shetterly

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