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Is jet lag worse if you travel east rather than west?

Our readers, including a pilot, explain why direction of travel does impact jet lag - and offer tips to overcome it

21 September 2022

Young african man sitting at airport lounge and sleeping, waiting for flight at airport departure area.

izusek/Getty Images

Is jet lag worse if you travel east rather than west? Does going with or against the rotation of Earth have an impact?

@JohnRei78302499
via Twitter

Whenever your day gets shorter, your body has a hard time adjusting. I am a long-haul airline pilot. Flying east is always the problem. One of the hardest things to adapt to is the jet lag. It plagues the lives of those in my profession.

Dorothy Graham
Macclesfield, Cheshire, UK

As a dual national of the UK and the US, I have travelled back and forth between these places many times. The jet lag…

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