The time difference between California and the UAE is 11 hours. In the winter, when California comes off daylight savings, the difference is 12 hours.

Which means your body clock is turned upside down, when traveling from one to the other. As we did a week ago.

I know what time it is, mentally. But my body is pretty thoroughly confused.

The rule of thumb for the phenomena known as jet lag?

You need one-day-per-time-zone-crossed to recover. To get back to what you were doing before you traveled.

I can assure you that the time it is taking me to recover definitely brings to mind the word “lag”.

The adjustment is not happening quickly. At all.

Granted, 11 time zones is nearly the worst-case scenario. (And it would be, at 12 hours, if we had flown in December or January.)

For most people, it is more difficult going east than west because long trips east typically involve a condensed night, somewhere in the middle, which seems to particularly confuse the body.

(Going west, it often is one long, 30-plus-hour day, which is easier to handle.)

It took me only a day or three to get adjusted, following the trip from the UAE to California.

However, going the other way … a week later, I am still lapsing into a coma about 8:30 p.m.  And I might not last even that late if I had not been at work until 7:30 or later.

In theory, everything would soon be fine if I slept on until, say, 6 a.m. — but I keep coming to at 2 or 3 a.m., and I am pretty much wide awake. Which leads to 3-4 hours of surfing the net in the dark. Or writing blog items.

Probably doesn’t help that I sometimes go back to bed at 6 a.m. or so and sleep another two hours.

So, 11 time zones?

I should be OK by Wednesday of this week. Though I doubt I will be. I am making progress, but it is slow.

The concept of jet lag, as it applies to athletes who travel great distances, probably is not often enough taken into account. Arriving even a week in advance, after crossing sufficiently considered.

For example, Australia’s athletes had to cross nine time zones to get to Britain for the 2012 London Games. Perhaps it was no coincidence the Aussies had a particularly bad Olympics. Or that the Brits had a particularly good one.

Jet lag can be a tough customer.