What is social jet lag? Why is sleep pattern important?

Trying to keep up with the hustle and bustle of everyday life, perhaps many of us come across the concept of “social jet lag” but don’t know it has a definition. Expert Clinical Psychologist Hazal Kerimoglu discusses it in detail and shares what can be done about it.

social jet lag, This is the name given to the imbalance that occurs between our social and biological clocks due to various timing discrepancies. Occurs as a result of factors such as time mismatches and shift work, which are particularly imperative.

Social jet lag, which is generally common, greatly affects our quality of life. Numerous sleep studies today show this; The impact of sleep on our health and quality of life is quite large. Accordingly, the return of sleep problems can be seen as a social jet lag.

What is social jet lag?

In our daily life we ​​are constantly stressed and hustle and bustle. Both our social responsibilities and our responsibilities in family life require us to be constantly active. When we don’t have these responsibilities, we try to make time for our own values, hobbies, and the people we love. However, in all this turmoil, we sometimes inadvertently steal from ourselves and fail to align our social clock with our biological clock. The challenges we face in this situation make us feel like social jet lag. So what can be done to overcome this process and what are the negative effects of social jet lag?

Negative effects of social jet lag

Social jet lag is actually one of the major issues that many of us face but don’t realize. Even though sunrise and sunset and the day/night cycle created by the world give us a message about our sleep patterns, we usually can’t keep track of that order. The social jet lag that results from this incompatibility opens the door to many ills. The following diseases are some of the key indicators caused by social jet lag and sleep disturbances:

• type 2 diabetes
• Obesity
• Heart diseases
• Depression
• Problems with memory and thinking due to insomnia
• Violations of hand-eye coordination
• Problems with vital elements such as the immune system, hormone secretion and body temperature due to non-observance of biological clocks.
• Fatigue and bad mood

How to bypass social jet lag?

Social jet lag is a process in which a person can go a long way through their own efforts. While overcoming this inconvenience, it is important for people to raise awareness about daylight savings time. Till Rönneberg At the moment of solving this problem, in addition to daylight, people regular maintenance of the sleep system emphasizes its importance. In particular, he proposes to eliminate the hourly obligations caused by business life and use flexible working hours. Thus, he states that employers will also benefit and individuals will participate more effectively in business life.

What measures can be taken to avoid social jet lag?

Social jet lag is a supportive process offered by a specialist when treatment is needed. In addition, there are steps you can take to avoid this problem. It is important to remember that as human beings we are part of living life, and to keep up with this system, and not wait for the world to suit us. In other words, sunrise and sunset are messages that give us information about our sleep patterns. It would be helpful to determine the best hours of rest for this order and not create gaps between our biological clock and our social clock.

To prevent this disorder resulting from sleep disorders, it can be recommended to prioritize the quality of sleep as well as its duration. In other words, after determining the right rest period for your body clock, you can evaluate what you can do to improve your sleep quality.

Why is sleep pattern important?

While there has been a lot of research into sleep patterns to date, it is easy to understand the importance of sleep from our own body without the need for any research. Think back to the day you were sleep deprived; How productive and quality did you spend your time? Adequate sleep, which includes activity during the day, positive psychology and many other benefits, protects our health in the long run. For this reason, it’s important to set your sleep patterns to a specific routine, with exceptions.

Sleep disruption will steal our quality of life as it opens the door to many illnesses, especially jet lag. It must be said how important the rest period is in accordance with our biological clock for the regeneration of all our organs and the immune system.

As we have already mentioned, the social jet lag can be said to be one of the great problems of our century. The main reason for this situation is that we distribute sleep hours not depending on our structure, but according to various factors. The pattern of sleep disturbance resulting from necessities such as shift work has led to the spread of problems such as jet lag among the population.

Generalize; Social jet lag is a disorder resulting from situations such as shift work and forced time mismatches. This is because our socially constructed life is incompatible with our biological makeup. In order to prevent social jet lag, it is necessary to determine a regular and healthy sleep pattern and organize sleep hours that are suitable for our biological structure, that is, the circulation of the world. Otherwise, social jet lag and sleep disturbances can be said to cause many disorders.

In some cases, it is enough to regulate sleep hours to prevent such disorders; Sometimes it is necessary for a person to act with support. At this stage, it is very important to seek support from specialists.

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