What NASA-Linked Circadian Science Can Teach Travelers About Beating Jet Lag

LifestyleTravelWhat NASA-Linked Circadian Science Can Teach Travelers About Beating Jet LagByEmese Maczko,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Emese Maczko is a travel writer covering sustainable travel.Follow AuthorApr 27, 2026, 08:00am EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.Long-haul travelers have tried every jet lag fix in the book, from skipping coffee to forcing themselves into daylight, but many still lose precious days to exhaustion after landing. That is when we should look more closely to circadian science. I recently attended a webinar organized by the Global Wellness Summit that brought together a former astronaut, a United Airlines executive, a Wimbledon champion professional athlete, the founder of a jet lag app rooted in NASA’s circadian research and a circadian scientist to discuss how to manage our internal clocks successfully.Jet Lag Starts When The Internal Is Clock Out Of SyncDr. Steven Lockley, chief scientist at Timeshifter and associate professor of medicine in the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School, explained that we all have a central clock in the brain, like the “conductor of the orchestra.”But most of our organs, the heart, the lungs, the liver, the kidneys, have their own clocks. While all of these clocks can keep time on their own, they still need a “conductor.”"In a perfect world, you would do the same thing every day, and you would always have the same circadian time," said Dr. Lockley.Dr. Steven Lockley is speaker at the Global Wellness Summit 2021. TimeshifterMORE FOR YOUBut in reality, sleep and meal patterns, social and behavioral factors, and even electric light will slightly disrupt these internal rhythms. He calls these “minor wobbles.”Larger disruptions ("major wobbles"), such as shift work, late-night weekends and jet lag, could throw our central brain clock more...