如何打敗時差反應 Jet Lag Cures Aplenty

Rita Gunther McGrath, a Columbia Business School professor, is one of those business travelers who do not care about delays, cancellations or navigating a new location. What does concern her is the seeming inability to conquer jet lag, and the accompanying symptoms that leave her groggy, unfocused and feeling, she says, “like a dishrag.”

哥倫比亞大學商學院(Columbia Business School)教授麗塔·岡瑟·麥格拉思(Rita Gunther McGrath)是那種不會擔心航班延誤、取消或改變降落地點的商旅客人。她擔心的是時差反應，那會讓她昏昏沉沉，無法集中注意力，用她自己話說，感覺就“像一塊洗碗的抹布”。

“Jet lag has always been an issue for me,” says Ms. McGrath, who has been a business traveler for more than two decades and has dealt with itineraries that take her from New York to New Zealand to Helsinki to Hong Kong all within a matter of days.

“時差對我來說一直是個問題，”麥格拉思說。20多年來，她經常需要出差，有時可能需要在幾天之內從紐約飛到新西蘭、赫爾辛基，然後再到香港。

She has scoured the Internet for “jet lag cures,” and has tried preventing or dealing with the misery by avoiding alcohol, limiting light exposure or blasting her body with sunlight and “doing just about anything and everything that experts tell you to do,” Ms. McGrath said.

她已經在網上找遍了“時差治療法”，嘗試通過禁酒、避光或減少太陽下的暴曬來避免或緩解時差反應所帶來的痛苦，簡直“用盡了專家們說的所有方法”（麥格拉思的原話）。

“Jet lag is not conducive to the corporate environment,” she said. “There has to be some kind of help that actually works for those of us that travel a lot, but I sure can’t find it.”

“時差對工作環境沒有好處，”她說，“一定有某種對我們這些經常旅行的人真正有效的方法，但我肯定是沒找到。”

Although science is closer to understanding the basic biological mechanisms that make many travelers feel so miserable when crossing time zones, research has revealed that, at least for now, there is no one-size fits-all recommendation for preventing or dealing with the angst of jet lag.

雖然科研人員已經基本弄清了旅行者跨越多個時區時之所以感到痛苦的基本生理機制，但是研究發現，至少現在，沒有一個適合所有人的預防或解除時差反應的方法。

Recommendations to beat jet lag include adjusting sleep schedules, short-term use of medications to sleep or stay awake, melatonin supplements and light exposure timing, among others, said Col. Ian Wedmore, an emergency medicine specialist for the Army.

軍隊急救醫學專家伊恩·韋德莫爾上校(Ian Wedmore)說，緩解時差反應的建議包括調整睡眠安排，短期服用幫助入睡或保持清醒的藥物，服用褪黑素，以及控制光照時間等。

These work for many people, “but not all,” said Dr. Wedmore, who practices at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Wash.

在華盛頓州塔科馬的馬迪根軍隊醫學中心(Madigan Army Medical Center)工作的韋德莫爾說，這些方法對很多人奏效，“但不是對所有人。”

That has led some travelers to resort to ineffective jet lag fixes like “shining a light behind the knee, aromatherapy and pressure point therapy,” said Jay Olson, founder of , a free app and website that helps travelers minimize jet lag.

是一個幫助旅行者減輕時差反應的免費應用程序和網站，它的創始人傑伊·奧爾森(Jay Olson)說，一些旅行者因此求助於一些無效的時差反應療法，比如“光照膝蓋後部，香薰療法和穴位按壓療法”。

Since its founding in 2013, the site has developed recommendations for about 240,000 travelers after they plug in data like their normal sleep-wake times and destinations.

從2013年創立時起，該網站大約爲24萬旅行者提供了建議，旅行者們需要輸入自己正常的睡覺和起牀時間以及目的地。

“We get a lot of great feedback, but remember, any time you come up with a solution, it’s for a majority of people,” said Mr. Olson, a Ph.D. candidate at McGill University, who developed the algorithm after experiencing jet lag on a trip to Greece. “There will be some people for whom this just doesn’t work.”

“我們得到很多很棒的反饋，但是記住，不管你想出什麼解決辦法，它都只是適合大多數人，”奧爾森說。他是麥基爾大學(McGill University)的博士研究生。他去希臘旅行出現時差反應後開發了這種算法。“這種方法可能對有些人無效。”

One hope for treatment lies in creating a “personalized” plan, based on an individual’s genetic blueprint, said Paolo Sassone-Corsi, a scientist at the University of California, Irvine, who studies internal “body clocks,” or circadian rhythms — the 24-hour cycle of light and dark that help regulate when people wake up, sleep and eat, among other things.

保羅·薩森-科西(Paolo Sassone-Corsi)是加利福尼亞大學歐文分校(University of California, Irvine)研究生物鐘的科學家。生物鐘是24小時光與暗的週期，能幫助調節甦醒、入眠和進食等活動。他說，一種可能的療法是根據個人基因藍圖創制“個性化”方案。

Scientists now know that about 15 percent of a human’s genes are governed by these biological clocks. Any disruption to them — whether it’s a flight across time zones that leaves travelers in bright light when their bodies crave sleep, or darkness when their bodies are wide-awake, shift work or even stress — can lead to jet lag or, in extreme cases, potentially lead to the development of serious health problems like obesity and cancer, he said.

目前，科學家們知道，大約有15%的人類基因由生物鐘控制。薩森-科西說，對生物鐘的破壞可能導致時差反應——不管是飛過多個時區，在身體渴望睡覺時暴露在亮光中，在身體完全清醒時處於黑暗中，還是上夜班或有壓力——在極端情況下，可能導致肥胖和癌症等嚴重健康問題。

“What’s new is that we now recognize that we have clocks in every single cell of our bodies and from a physiologic point of view, some people are simply going to be more affected by jet lag because of their genetic or metabolic profile,” he said.

“我們瞭解到的最新情況是，身體的每個細胞都有生物鐘。從生理學角度講，由於基因或新陳代謝的差異，有些人就是更容易受時差影響，”他說。

“Basically, it’s that profile that makes us individuals. But it can also be the reason why someone experiences few problems with jet lag while someone else will say ‘Dude, I’m a wreck.’”

“從根本上講，正是這種差異讓我們成爲獨特的個體。但也可能正是因爲這個原因，有些人幾乎沒有時差反應，而有些人會說‘夥計，我廢了’。”

One piece of advice for those who travel far, but to the same spots, is to stay in the same hotel. Familiarity will help cut stress, and perhaps minimize jet lag.

那些需要長途旅行但是經常前往同一個地方的人可以嘗試每次都住同一家酒店。熟悉感能幫助緩解壓力，也許能最大程度地減輕時差反應。

Experiments on mice performed in Dr. Sassone-Corsi’s laboratory show that a stressful environment will decrease the ability to adjust to a new time zone. Quickly shifting meal times and exercise periods to your new locale will help, too, he said.

薩森-科西的實驗室在老鼠身上進行的試驗表明，緊張的環境會降低人們對新時區的適應能力。他說，快速根據當地時間改變用餐和活動時間也會有所幫助。

Doctors do know that heading west is generally easier on the body than traveling east, because it requires a person’s internal clock to “set later, not earlier,” said Dr. R. Robert Auger, a sleep specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

R·羅伯特·奧格(R. Robert Auger)是明尼蘇達州羅切斯特梅奧診所(Mayo Clinic)的睡眠專科醫生。他說，醫生們確實知道，一般來說，比起往東飛，身體更能適應往西飛，因爲往西飛是要求生物鐘“往後調，而不是往前調”。

But the more time zones crossed, the tougher the jet lag.

不過，飛過的時區越多，時差反應越嚴重。

The rule of thumb to get your body clocks back in sync is about one day per time zone change, making it “very difficult for real road warriors to get acclimated,” Dr. Auger said.

奧格說，根據人們的經驗，一般來說，每往回跨越一個時區，需要一天時間來讓身體與環境同步，所以這讓“經常進行商務旅行的人很難適應”。

Ms. McGrath, who once tried taking only westbound flights on a round-the-world itinerary, can relate. Although her jet lag symptoms were somewhat eased by this trick, she concedes that flying west all the time is “not practical for most people.”

麥格拉思曾經嘗試在環球旅行中只搭乘向西飛的航班，她覺得這種方法有所幫助。雖然這種方法讓她的時差反應有所緩解，但她承認，“對大部分人來說”，總是向西飛“並不可行”。

Especially if you’re Caroline Gogolak, co-founder of the activewear company Carbon38, whose headquarters are in Los Angeles. She lives in New York.

比如卡羅琳·戈戈拉克(Caroline Gogolak)，她是運動裝公司Carbon38的聯合創始人，公司總部在洛杉磯，她住在紐約。

Flying west to Los Angeles is “no problem,” she said. But the return eastbound flight to New York can be a nightmare, she added.

她說，往西飛到洛杉磯“沒有任何問題”。她補充說，但是往東飛回到紐約就有可能像噩夢一樣。

After one trip she was so groggy and disoriented, she gave the cabdriver the wrong address for her home. “It was not one of my finer travel moments,” she said.

有一次飛回紐約時，她昏昏沉沉，暈頭轉向，連自家地址都跟出租車司機說錯了。“那不是愉快的旅行時刻，”她說。

A common aid is melatonin, which has been studied extensively and for many travelers can help symptoms by getting the body in sync with local time more quickly, said Dr. Wedmore, the emergency medicine specialist.

急救醫學專家韋德莫爾說，一個常見的輔助藥物是褪黑素。它得到廣泛研究，能讓身體更快地與當地時間同步，幫助很多旅行者們緩解時差反應。

Although it’s not a miracle cure, “some studies do show it can help on both eastward and westward flights, and it does seem to help a lot of people with jet lag, including me,” he said.

他說，雖然它不是神奇的治療方法，但是“有些研究的確表明，它對向東和向西的飛行都有幫助，而且似乎的確幫助很多人緩解了時差反應，包括我自己”。

But it hasn’t done much for Ms. McGrath. So, for now, she’s trying to find the positives.

不過，它對麥格拉思沒有太大幫助。所以目前，她在努力尋找時差的好處。

“What we all need to remember is that we are incredibly privileged to be able to cross time zones so rapidly,” she said. “Plus, when I get home from a business trip and say something stupid, I just blame the jet lag. That’s good for about three days.”

“我們都需要記住，我們能那麼快地穿越那麼多時區，它是一種不可思議的特權，”她說，“另外，商務旅行回家後，如果我說了什麼傻話，我都歸罪於時差。這個藉口可以用三天。”