Many frequent flyers will attest to the fact that jet lag is worse when traveling east than west, and physicists have, through the power of math, figured out why that is the case.

Many frequent flyers will attest to the fact that jet lag is worse when traveling east than west, and physicists have figured out why that is the case, reports CNN.
According to a recently published study, it comes down to the cells related to circadian rhythms, the natural biological clock that tells us when it’s time to be at rest or wide awake.
Though the established length of a day is 24 hours, the human body experiences it in blocks closer to 24.5 hours due to the cells’ operation cycles, notes LiveScience.
Thus, the time tacked on to a day when traveling west is easier for the cells to adjust to than those lost when headed east.
In numbers, that means jet lag recovery time after flying westward across six time zones is less than 6 days.
The same trek in the opposite direction requires a whopping 8 days of adjustment.
Michelle Girvan of the University of Maryland stresses these assessments are based on simple calculations, but notes the findings will no doubt be helpful in future research.