Staff jet-lagged on leaving festive time zone

Published on Thursday 30 December 2010 12:59

PEOPLE who are taking the Christmas and New Year period off work could return next week with a type of jet lag, experts have warned.

Late-night partying, long lie-ins and irregular sleeping patterns all contribute to shifting body clocks over the festive holidays. And scientists say this could lead to people returning to work tired and lacklustre, with symptoms similar to jet lag, but without having travelled to a different time zone.

Dr Victoria Revell, a chronobiologist at the University of Surrey, said: "Over the Christmas period we will enjoy staying up late at night and staying in bed in the morning. However, this will allow our body clock to drift later in time, similar to flying a couple of time zones west.

"This means that when we go back to work in the New Year our body clock will be set later than we want it to be so we will really struggle to wake up, get up and get going in the mornings.

"One way to enjoy the festive season but not let our body clock drift too far is to ensure that we still get up at a reasonable time even when not going to work."

Negative emotions associated with the holiday season being over and two weeks of irregular sleeping patterns could leave workers struggling for motivation in January.

Over the festive period, many people relax their sleep patterns - treating themselves to well deserved lie-ins and going to bed later than normal as they don't have to be up at the crack of dawn for work the next day.

However, when faced with going back to work after nearly two weeks of the sleep and wake cycle "free-running", returning to a routine of waking up in the dark can throw internal body clocks out of sync.

As a result, people are left feeling similar effects to those of jet-lag, where they find it a struggle to get up in the morning, feel sluggish, experience difficulty falling asleep at night and feel sleepy during the day - which scientists refer to as social jet lag.

Social jet lag is described as the difference between biological time and external requirements. As well as affecting adults, it also causes a problem among teenagers who find it difficult to wake up for school because their pre- programmed body clock is telling them to wake up later. Those suffering from social jet lag can expect to experience symptoms similar to jet lag, including indigestion, loss of appetite, difficulty in con-

centrating, memory problems,

clumsiness, feeling generally unwell, lack of energy, fatigue and irritability.

Iain McMillan, director of CBI Scotland, admitted the findings were "plausible" but businesses had not previously complained about staff performance at the start of the year.

"It does sound plausible," he said."When you've been home for Christmas and New Year - the best part of a week off - and then you return to the office you are just a little bit slower than you normally would be."

But he warned: "It's important that businesses are able to hit the ground running in January."