I'm so tired I don't know what to do, I'm so tired my mind is set on you (The Beatles)

Ah to sleep, perchance to dream.

I have struggled to sleep this week. What with my habibi (a.k.a. SWMBO) being in Nu Zild and the jet lag, it has taken me my usual week on the return journey to the northern hemisphere for my sleep patterns to return to normal.

Sure enough last night was my first full night of sleep since returning to the sandpit last Thursday.

The usual trick that helps when going to NZ (live the time zone as much as possible) doesn’t deter the jet lag. I have no idea how athletes cope with the time changes.

I read a really interesting article in the National on jet lag and how horses don’t suffer from it.

Jet lag occurs when there is a mismatch in the day-to-day rhythms, known as circadian rhythms, of an individual and their sleep-wake cycle in their given time zone.
Unlike humans, horses do not have a primary period of sleep; they snatch sleep in any 24-hour cycle.

And their circadian rhythms are also suspended in darkness, whereas those of humans continue at a rate in tune with the solar cycle. That means that compared with us, horses do not have such rigid day-night cycles, and are much less easily fazed if they are disrupted.

The findings are the work of Dr Domingo Tortonese, a scientist at the University of Bristol in England. He found that a day after a simulated flight, a racehorse could run on a treadmill for up to 25 seconds longer before it hit fatigue. The difference lasted for up two weeks.

http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/jet-lag-can-make-a-horse-fly for the full thing.

Interesting huh! Unlike the horses, the suspension in darkness does not help me on the flight. I use the eye shades and try to nap (20 mg of Temazapan doesn’t knock me out but it allows me to ride out the bumps and semi doze). Even an upgrade to business didn’t particular help me either, although I was much more comfortable in my semi dozing state.

I still need that week to recover.

Good news is I feel much more chipper today. The cross trainer sessions (every second day) are getting easier to get through.

Haircut tomorrow (and retail therapy at Dubai Mall), albeit without SWMBO, will be odd, but a welcome distraction nonetheless.

Love and peace - Wozza