Monday, July 20, 2009

Conference Lag

I think we need a term for the feeling of jet lag after a conference, even when it's in your own time zone or +/- 1 hour. A couple of times this summer I've come back from a conference and basically felt like I just spent a week in Hawaii, without the tan. At first I attributed it to just being burned out after a conference, between the all out science and the typical shenanigans that occur when you get a bunch of scientists together in a place that offers adult libation. However, that wouldn't account for having a hard time getting to sleep at my normal "home" time once getting back. After a recent conference I got thinking about it and realized that I basically live in a different time frame during a conference, even in the same time zone. At home, the Wee One wakes up between 5:00 and 6:00 pretty much everyday and that's about it for sleeping. For that reason we are typically in bed between 10:00 and 11:00 (a significant departure from pre-child days). My conference schedule is quite different, however, typically lasting well into the early AM and getting up in time to scarf down some breakfast before the morning session (or maybe sleep in a bit of the morning talks aren't doing it for me). For all intents and purposes, it's as much a time shift as traveling a few hours west. Maybe I need to start attending more conferences in Europe so I can stay on my home schedule while away.

2 comments:

  1. I've always just called it a hangover.

    I'm looking forward to my first post-tenure-track employment conference ever. I'll see if the hangover is bigger.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bigger and longer, but that probably has more to do with getting older.

    ReplyDelete