Trimester two has begun, and some students have come back from break jet lagged and struggling to get back on track.

International students and others who have traveled long distances after Thanksgiving break and dealt with flying over multiple time zones felt the impact of jet lag. To help students with this difficult transition, the school instituted quiet hours and an early study hall from Monday, Dec. 2, to Friday, Dec. 6.

Jet lag is the disruption of sleep when flying over multiple time zones. It occurs when your body’s internal clock and current time zone’s clock are off. Students can experience loss of sleep, fatigue, impaired concentration, headaches, sickness, and other symptoms according to Better Health Channel.

Although quiet hours and an early study hall were implemented to help with jet lag, they were not helpful for everyone. Will Lee, a junior who lives in Mem West, felt they didn’t serve their purpose.

“I think quiet hours made my jet-lag worse, because [they kept] me up later, and [made me] not so tired earlier on,” he said. “I used the early study hall once and finished all my work then and went to bed earlier, which hurt my sleep schedule, because normally I would have done work from 8-10 and gone to bed at 11.”

Chris Anderson, a senior from China, flew home for Thanksgiving break. Although he was jet lagged, Chris tole The Willistonian he just “brute forced my way through” the tiredness.

Jet lag can affect just about anyone, but the older you are the more intense your jet lag can become. Also, traveling eastward can increase your jet lag because it forces you to accelerate your internal clock faster.

David An, a senior from South Korea, told The WIllistonian he also had disrupted sleep while using the early study hall.

“I felt that I was just jet-lagged, I was too tired so I had to sleep a lot,” David said. “I fell asleep at 8 pm and woke up at 11 pm, and I sometimes stayed up until 3am [before] falling back asleep. I did use the early study hall though, which helped with work, but not necessarily with my sleep since I didn’t finish all my work,” he said.

Other Williston students, like Juli Tatar, a senior from Austria, had similar experiences with early study hall.