Body clock, time zones, insulin response

[LittleGreyCat]

I am currently in NZ which is roughly 12 hours or half a day ahead of the UK.

In the UK my body has a sort of rhythm.
Dawn Phenomenon building from about 6, insulin response kicking in around noon, BG dropping nicely in the afternoon.
Overnight can be mixed.

I'm just wondering how long my body will take to switch to the new time zones (and switch back when I return to the UK).

It doesn't help that I've just started a new Libre 2 and it is reading a lot higher than the last one. I need to finger prick. With a new tub of test strips.
Life is uncertain at the moment.

 

[EllieM]

I've done quite a few trips between the UK and Australia/New Zealand and I found the switch was pretty immediate. It helps that I split my lantus dose so I don't have to worry about shifting time zones because I'm taking it every time zones anyway. But a long flight tends to confuse my system anyway so by the time I've recovered from that my body seems to be used to the new time zone.

If/when I finally get a pump it'll be interesting to see how I cope, but currently on lantus/humalog fairly low carb (less than 100g a day).

I'm a dexcom user but I don't trust it for the first 24 hours (unless it agrees with a glucometer).

But the flight is stressful so I wouldn't be surprised if you needed more insulin to cover it and recover from it. I just follow my dexcom as regards my needs on the flight, and try to avoid hypos when transiting through airports (the worst).

 

[AloeSvea]

Hi there you two fellow globe trotters . (Well, I used to be.) I

I'm assuming you mean your natural insulin response - right? @LittleGreyCat - as in your body dealing with the glucose you do make/eat/drink? Which your Libre 2 will measure?

Like @EllieM, I find pretty quick/immediate blood glucose responses , I guess to the eating and drinking and the related light levels during those things is the key?

But as for your body clock issues in terms of time zone adjustments, otherwise, sleeping, fatigue levels, when you are hungry and thirsty etc - that can take as long as the time zones you passed through! Giving it a day per time zone to readjust. And it's 12 time zones between Europe and here in Aotearoa/New Zealand. So - 12 days at least before you're feeling hunky dory again? And ditto on your return home.

Lots of folks I know, me too back in the day, choose to have a longish (ie around 3 days at least, preferably) stopover at the halfway-ish point, ie Asia or the US depending on what direction you fly, to make that big body clock adjustment that much easier. (yeah - jet lag!)

Just to give you a giggle, when in Sweden I was discussing cheapest flights to NZ with an English co-worker, and he mentioned some Thai flights, ending in Thailand (a common destination for Swedes, new and old.). I told him great - but that's only half way, and he went into shock at the sudden realisation of how far it is to Aus and NZ. That's when you mention the 24ish hours travel time on a good direct with only one stop for gas route...

So, no wonder you might find the time zone body clock adjustment takes a bit longer than usual international travel.

And, sadly, the older one gets - the harder it gets, I have heard, and experienced myself. (One's body gets more accustomed to the regular rhythm/body clock of your life at your regular home...)

 

[EllieM]

And my apologies, just realised that @LittleGreyCat is T2 and not on insulin, so my comments, certainly the last paragraph on insulin, probably weren't that applicable. (Though am guessing that your bgs might go up on the flight because of stress.)

 

[AloeSvea]

Hi @EllieM - easy to miss the T2 and T1 thing (I have done it myself as you know).

You find flying a stress? Or - is the customs and immigration and security thing? My guess is it's the latter - and I agree wholeheartedly! I have always found it hard not to take my luggage and person being checked for bombs as a suspected suicide bomber personally , with attendant stress - but I can't help it! (Not in the UK, and not the USA and Asia - just in continental Europe and Scandinavia, due to racial profiling - which of course they don't do, ahem). But I like the actual flying, and being waited on and the little airplane meals and routines and wee TVs and so on, so maybe the stress hormones get balanced out by that for me?

Back in the last big Icelandic volcano eruption that affected air travel so much, I did use some of my time waiting around airports to do interesting BG experiments, and I look back fondly on those. If you have to sit in an airport - what a great time to do a three to five hour check on what happens to your blood glucose when you eat an apple, for instance! To check on one's insulin response. Ah, those giddy hopeful days!

 

[In Response]

My experience is that my body responds as quickly as it takes to adjust to the time one change.
If I can adapt my meal and sleep times within a day, my insulin needs are close to my usual daily patterns.
However, when I last travelled to the US (only 5 hours different so I appreciate it is a bit of a baby hop compared with New Zealand), I was working silly hours - doing UK work from 4am and hosting customers in the US until midnight or beyond, My BG was all over the place. That could be due to lack of sleep, it could be due to stress (I was presenting at a conference), it could be timezone or it could be due to the covid and flu jabs I had the day before I departed the UK.
On second thoughts, there was so much going on, that example is probably irrelevant.

 

[AloeSvea]

@In Response - personally I think your listing stresses and impacts was really interesting, and relevant for reminding how sensitive our BG /and insulin response/dose is to what life throws at us - and yes - air travel and time zones is one of those things.

 

[Ladynijo]

@LittleGreyCat I went to NZ and Australia over Christmas & New Year, and was interested to see how the time changes affected my BG.

Apart from managing the eating and sleeping needs on the journey, it didn’t take long to adjust. In fact, I think I left the dawn phenomenon in the northern hemisphere, and it hasn’t come back, even though I’ve returned to the Uk. It may have disappeared anyway because I think my T2 is stabilising but I no longer seem to get that huge morning rise early on for no reason.

The eating/drinking on the journey was challenging, airline meals are so processed and carb based it was difficult to get my normal food. That was quite stressful in itself but I put a Libre on about 24 hours before the journey so I could monitor the situation, which was useful. But once there, and after a decent nights sleep, I was back on an even keel within 24 hours. Much the same coming back, although I was pretty fed up with air ports & planes by then. But I do find a good nights sleep cures most ills.

 

[LittleGreyCat]

Thanks for all the responses.
I never did get to the bottom of when my body adjusted, but I think I am aligned with the clock now.

I do have a distinctly different insulin response pre and post noon.

In the morning DP raises my BG and I don't cope well with carbs.
In the mid to late afternoon I seem to be able to process carbs more effectively.

Of course, minimal carbs is best but I am on holiday.

 

[SimonP78]

But the flight is stressful so I wouldn't be surprised if you needed more insulin to cover it and recover from it. I just follow my dexcom as regards my needs on the flight, and try to avoid hypos when transiting through airports (the worst).

I just wanted to add that I always go low when travelling, so ymmv.

Re the actual question I don't have much to add - it's always a rush once I am wherever I'm going (whether a holiday or a meeting) so very hard to gauge quite what's going on.