What is the best way to beat jet lag?
Asked by
unit (
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August 26th, 2009
My Son is arriving back into Heathrow on Saturday afternoon. He is flying back from Sydney.I doubt he will sleep much on the return flight.
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7 Answers
- avoid driving if at all possible
– drink plenty of h2O
– wear sunglasses
– avoid temperature extremes
– eat small meals throughout the day
– take Emergen-C
– unfortunately, stay awake until you basically pass out from exhaustion, then sleep 8–12 hours. when you wake up your clock should be reset
This is from personal experience-I visited the USA for three weeks and was 12 hours behind my usual time. Jet lag was terrible upon the return home.
For two weeks, my clock was out of order. I would fall asleep by 7pm every evening, wake up at 2am, not go to sleep until 4ish and have to wake up at 7pm. It was not good.
Finally, I forced myself to stay away by playing Farmtown on Facebook. I’m not kidding. Stayed awake until 11 or 12pm and then crash out. After about one week, I was back to almost normal.
And drink lots of water.
I travel to Italy and back about once a year or two.. what works for me is staying up until a normal bedtime at my destination and then crashing, sleeping as long as my body needs, but getting up before noon. After 2–3 days, the jet lag (which is basically just me feeling more tired than usual during the day) has worn off and I’m back on a normal sleep schedule.
I took melatonin once, two nights in a row, and that was really nice, I woke up feeling completely rested and energized.
Start behaving like you’re in your target timezone as soon as possible; this includes eating breakfast on the plane at the wrong time. Not always convenient if your flight doesn’t serve meals like this, but they did when I flew to Japan. :)
If you need to stay awake, play at a computer or watch TV because the light emitted from the screens mimic sunlight and could prevent melatonin from being released, which is what makes you tired (and explains why people who play computer games or watch TV at night seem to be able to stay up later).
It’s easier to stay up late than to sleep early, so if you can, plan this kind of jet lag combat technique (i.e. rather than trying to sleep at your new timezone which seems too early, stay up all night and day and try again tomorrow – you’ll be shatttered, and be able to sleep well).
There are three things you can do to beat jet lag:
Begin trying to get on the time schedule of your destination a couple of days before you leave. This means staying up real late or going to bed real early depending on the direction you are going.
Utilize the fasting method in @barumonkey ‘s link. Recent studies show that you can quickly reset your body clock by fasting for 16 hrs then eating breakfast at the breakfast time at your destination.
When you arrive, stay up and active until normal bedtime at your destination, then crash.
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