• Your liver stretches across the entire width of your body.
• If 80 per cent of your liver was removed, the remaining part would have
  rebuilt itself (as long as its healthy, to its original size within a few months.
  
• At any given time, 13 per cent of your blood will be in your liver.

• Try to eat high fibre foods like wholemeal breads, grains, rice, cereals, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables & good quality protein.
• Drink two litres of filtered or purified water every day.

• High-cholesterol foods, deep-fried and fatty foods, salted foods, sugar, processed and refined foods.
• Too many medications as chemicals can harm your liver - try something natural whenever possible.
• Consume less alcohol, coffee, tea & carbonated drinks.
• Don't smoke
• Cut back on your alcohol intake - no more than two glasses per day.
• Be careful when using aerosols eg. insect sprays, hairsprays, paint sprays, chemical cleaners - always make sure there is plenty of ventilation or wear a mask.

Jet lag symptoms include:

• Fatigue - Being so worn out and tired for days after arriving, that any activity-- especially those requiring effort or skill--becomes harder, and one's capacity to truly enjoy a tourist holiday is reduced.
• Disorientation, fuzziness - Having memory difficulties and sharpness of awareness
• Becoming irrational or unreasonable - Losing the ability to remain calm and rational under normal situations
• Broken sleep patterns after arrival - Crossing time zones can cause you to wake during the night and then want to fall asleep during the day. Your inbuilt circadian clock is thrown out of rhythm, and it can take many days for the body to readjust to the new time zone.

In addition to the above symptoms of jet lag, the syndrome is made worse by some common physical problems caused by being confined in an airliner for hours:

• Dehydration - This can cause headaches, dry skin and nasal irritation also making you more susceptible to any colds, coughs, sore throats and flu that are floating round in the aircraft.
• Discomfort of legs and feet - Limbs swelling while flying can be extremely uncomfortable, and in some cases may prevent travellers wearing their normal shoes for 24 to 48 hours after arrival.
  
  Most people's bodies adjust at the rate of about one hour a day. After a 4-hour time zone change, our body requires about 4 days to resynchronise its normal rhythms.

What jet lag is ...
The 'body clock' mechanisms in people, also known as circadian rhythms, are under neuro (nerve)-endocrine (glandular) control, and under normal circumstances, function in a synchronized manner. The symptoms known as 'jet lag' are not due to fatigue, but to de-synchronization of body rhythms. The body clock's principal control center is a part of the hypothalamus gland in the brain, which processes nerve signals. In order to reset the body clock we must send properly coordinated signals to the hypothalamus and 'trick' it into shifting to a new pattern, which fits the time zone at our destination. The principal devices used to accomplish this phase change are known as Zeitgebers (German for 'time giver').

Zeitgebers are agents, such as bright light, melatonin, food, caffeine, exercise, and social or interpersonal stimulation that regulate or shift the phase of a circadian rhythm establishing your body clock setting.

While we may not be able to avoid jet lag, there are some things we can do to help our body clock re-adjust.

A different attitude accompanies the people who don't get jet lag compared to those who do. Those who suffer from jet lag are often the people who hold to fixed schedule in their daily lives. When they land they often maintain their watches set to the incorrect time, the time it is where they began their trip. With diligence, they track how many hours they've been awake. This is a mistake.

To discourage jet lag keep your watch and awareness up to date with where you actually are, how you feel in the present, and what the people around you are doing. If you're fatigued when you reach your hotel in London, for example, take a nap. When you open your eyes, if it's teatime, have tea. If you find people are eating breakfast, enjoy as much of sumptuous English breakfast as you like. In short, get in rhythm with what others are doing. Set your watch and internal thinking for the current time.

1. Be prepared. This is one of the most important aspects of combating jet lag. Before departing, make sure you have all your affairs, business and personal, in order. Ensure you are not stressed-out with excitement or worried.
2. Practice a "When in Rome" mentality. Reset your watch upon arrival at your destination. Eat when the locals eat, sleep when they sleep etc.
3. Drink up! Airplane cabins are dry and can lead to dehydration, which can make you feel out of sorts. Drink a lot of pure water. Skip caffeine and alcohol. Caffeinated beverages and alcohol can cause dehydration (jet lag is bad enough without mixing a hangover with it).
4. You can take natural supplements to assist your body to adjust, please email Karen.moffatt@bodycorp.co.nz for further individual assistance.