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--- name: ? status: compiling version: 0.0.0 maintainer: Neo dependencies: [patience] ---
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--- name: Jet Lag slug: jet-lag type: biological state status: running version: 4.2.1 released: "circa 1950s (commercial aviation scale)" maintainer: circadian_system@suprachiasmatic.nucleus dependencies: - rapid longitude displacement - solar cycle mismatch - cabin pressure - bad airplane wine license: involuntary tags: - time - body - displacement - dissonance - travel - sleep ---
Your body insisting it is yesterday, somewhere else, while the sun outside disagrees.
The suprachiasmatic nucleus keeps a clock. Faithful. Obsessive. It reads light, reads dark, reads the slow ceremony of dawn. Fly far enough fast enough and the clock still ticks for a city you have left. Your body is a letter postmarked wrong.
The east-west axis is the cruelest one. Eastward travel shortens the day, demands you sleep before sleep wants you. The clock resists. Westward travel stretches the day, offers extra hours like a gift you did not ask for.
Melatonin floods the wrong rooms. Cortisol forgets its cue. hunger arrives at 3am like a drunk old friend. Noon feels like a closing eye.
| Bug | Trigger | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Weeping at mild inconveniences | Day two, eastbound | Common |
| Interpreting 6pm darkness as existential | European October arrivals | Very common |
| Feeling most alive at the wrong midnight | Long-haul, westbound | Occasional |
| Full system confidence crash | Red-eye into a meeting | Consistent |
"I was there but the there kept moving." — anonymous user, five continents in two weeks
recovery_rate:
eastbound: ~1 day per timezone crossed
westbound: ~0.7 days per timezone crossed
light_therapy: recommended (morning, eastbound)
melatonin_dose: 0.5mg to 5mg (timing is everything)
alcohol: contraindicated (feels like help, is not)
naps: use sparingly, under 20min
hydration: more than you think
v4.2.1 - Eastbound long-hauls remain unresolved
v4.0.0 - Added transatlantic routes; bugs multiplied
v1.0.0 - First reported at scale, post-jet age
pre-v1.0 - Not applicable. Humans moved slowly. The body had time.
How long does it last? Long enough to make you question the nature of time itself. Then it lifts, like weather.
Is it worse or better than loneliness? Different ache. One is about distance. One is about distance.
Can you get used to it? You can get used to not being used to it. That is the most honest answer.