I have to fly from Anchorage AK to Bangor, Maine.
How do YOU cope with jet lag? I find it almost impossible to sleep during flight, and I think I’m routed through four airports …
What I do is gradually switch over to the other time zone. I was recently in France, which is 6 hours away. Beginning 12 days before the trip, I set my “personal clock” ahead a half hour each day. So by the time we left I was already in their time zone. Then I did the same thing, in reverse, when we got back.
This is especially important for me, since I take several medications that have to be taken at specific times of day.
Drugs and water and staying awake until the sun goes down in the new place.
My SO can sleep sitting up in a matter of minutes. Anywhere. And I’m completely jealous. So I got some Ambien that I take only on long flights (6 hours+) and pop 'em with water when I board. By the time we’re up in the air, I’m out for most of the flight.
That’s the best advice I’ve gotten. I went to Germany in 2000. Eastbound flights across the Atlantic generally fly overnight and land in the early morning. I don’t remember if I slept at all on the plane. If I did, it wasn’t much. By the afternoon, I was really dragging. I was dying for a nap, but I forced myself to stay up until about 8:30. I had a long sleep, and by the next day I was fine.
What’s your flight schedule, Atomic; flying during daylight or darkness?
Not sure if you’re working or on vacation. If you don’t have a fixed schedule at your destination it’s easier to wing it. Also, how long are you at the destination? What is more important - sleeping at your destination or when you return home?
Ambien is your friend! I’m dealing with jet lag right now (US west coast to China or 14 hour difference). Most important thing I have learned over 25 years of jet lag is that being rested is the most important thing. Second is that ambien for most people will guarantee at least 6 hours of sleep (and half an ambien works just has well for half the time for when you wake up at 2 or 4 am).
Normally, I take an ambien on the plane and sleep as much of the 12-15 flight time as I can…both directions. usually, I’m exhausted which helps. No matter when I land, whether morning or evening. Maybe, just maybe, I will take a 1 hour nap but no longer. I then stay up until some time approaching bedtime. then it’s an ambien (or I just fall asleep with a half ambien ready to go for when I wake up in the middle of the night). On business trips, I’ll take ambien every night I’m at the destination and go for the 1/2 ambien if I wake up at night on the return side.
Melatonin works for some people. Seems pretty neutral for me and certainly does not guarantee I will sleep.
definately getting sunlight helps.
Also, I find in that post lunch gotta sleep time, I stand up or walk around. I simply can not stay awake in a meeting for about 2 hours after lunch when the body clock says it is 4:00 am unless I stand up.
rule of thumb is that it takes about 1 day to adjust for every hour time zone difference. YMMV but that seems pretty spot on in my experience.
Stay hydrated. Do not drink alchohol. When you get there, live on there time, not home time. Unless you’re going right back the next day.
The problem most causing jet lag is not the time zones, but dehydration, thin, bad air combined with simple lack of sleep and lack of exercise. Walk up and down the aisle a few times. Drink plenty of juice, but do not use alcohol or coffee as they tend to dehydrate. Wear loose clothing so you won’t put your limbs to sleep.
I fly back and forth between Eastern USA and Germany a lot (six hours time difference). I really struggle to sleep on planes in coach. The first day in Germany (roughly equivalent to the OP’s first day in Maine) is do something, anything the first day. Stay up to at least 10 pm local. Make sure you have a clock easily visible nearby so that if you wake up in the middle of the night you don’t think it’s morning and get up. Try to force yourself to go back to sleep if this happens. Take Ambien or Melatonin, etc, if this works for you.
If you can sleep on the flight out it will help, although with a bunch of stops it’s really not a good situation for taking Ambien.
Stay up as late as you can the first few days, not just the first day. Resist the temptation to lay down and “just sleep for a few minutes” especially after noon local. Don’t take a nap in the first few days you’re in Maine.
Although I live in Florida, my body clock is pretty much set to Germany right now. So going to Germany leaves me sleep deprived but not terribly jet lagged right now. My toughest time is the first few days back in Florida.
FWIW, at least for me, traveling East is a lot tougher than West.
Cite? Jet lag is real. Those other things just exacerbate the situation, but jet lag is sunlight related.
As a regular KL to Houston or SLC traveler I do the following
- Do what ever I feel like on the plane sleep, no sleep, beer, wine, food , but also make sure I drink lots of water. I haven’t really noticed much difference with alcohol or no alcohol on a flight, just lots of water.
- On arrival, assuming early morning with work, coffee
- Don’t drink coffee during the rest of the day because it interferes with step 4
- Then take a 15 minute cat nap just after lunch and one at 5 ish, no longer than 15 minutes, if you go into deep sleep you are done.
- Eat light meals at the right time for the time zone you are in. Eating heavy or even regular meals tends to leave me bloated for some odd reason.
- Plan on some event that night to keep brain active. Getting to the hotel at 6pm with no plans is bad as the temptation to fall as leap is too great.
- When I wake up at 4 am I start doing something, reading, playing Sins of a Solar empire, whatever (not TV) if I fall as leap, great.
- Coffee for breakfast, then repeat the above.
I am generally good the next night and back to a 6 am reluctant wake up
For a flight arriving at night/evening time at destination I will try and take a short nap on take off and then read , work, SoaSE, take advanatge of the drinks cart etc and power through to destination and hotel.
If I wake up then I get up and do something and follow the cat nap method through the next day. Once again I avoid driving whenever I can for a couple of days.
So for me the keys are the ability to take 15 minute catnap which coffee can interfere with, don’t overeat, plan on things for the evening and don’t fall asleep at 6pm, and dont lay in bed trying to sleep.
I plan on not driving if at all possible for the first two days.
YJLMV
I don’t think you’re talking about jetlag here - you’re talking about feeling shit for a while immediately after a flight. Whereas the detrimental sleep-cycle effects of real jetlag can last days or weeks.
Over the years I’ve done a lot of flying between Europe and Asia, with an 8+ time difference. Rule of thumb is it takes about one day for every hour shift until you feel completely normal, but if you do the right things you can feel pretty much OK within about 48-72 hours of arrival.
The worst part, for me, is the waking cycle - one can go to bed at the appropriate time, but then wake a few hours later, in the middle of the night, and not be able to get back to sleep.
My tips: set your watch to the new timezone the moment you get on the plane. Eat the appropriate meals for that timezone. On the first day of arrival, only sleep in the daytime if you absolutely have to, and even then only make it a nap, and use an alarm to get you up well before the local bedtime. If you can possibly do it, though, push through your tiredness to go to bed at the correct time for your destination. You may have to endure extreme fatigue for a couple of days yet not be able to sleep when you want to. Bring a good book so if you wake up in the middle of the night and can’t sleep, you’re not going out of your mind.
Go to bed when the locals do. Get up when they do. Eat when they do. Get as much sunlight as you possibly can during the day. And yes, going west is much harder than going east. No idea why.
1.Don’t drink alcohol on the flight.
2. Drink lots of water.
3. Eat your meals in accorance with the new timezone schedule.
4.Force yourself to stay up until 10pm your first night. You’ll likely wake up in the middle of your first night, don’t get up or start watching TV, try to go back to sleep or at least stay in bed until wakeup time.
5. Repeat step 5 the second night and you’ll likely sleep through the night.
For me, the best way to deal with it is simply to try to adjust to your current location as quickly as possible. So, when I fly back to Ireland after a couple weeks in the US, and arrive here early in the morning having not really slept on the plane, I take a nap of an hour or two just to give me enough energy to keep going until the time I would normally go to sleep at night. Then, I make sure I sleep for no more than eight hours. Otherwise I’d wake up at 2 in the afternoon and not be able to get to sleep the next night. I’ll be knackered for a few days anyway, but at least I’m getting my sleep cycle back on track.
I keep intending to do something similar when flying the other way (i.e., take a short nap on arrival so that I don’t fall asleep too early at night) but unfortunately whenever I get to the folks’ house I always want to hang out with them instead of going to sleep right away…
I find the best thing to do is have a couple of stiff drinks on the flight after dinner (no more than two), set your watch to the new time zone, then sleep as much as possible, and when you get to your destination, stay up until 10pm or so before calling it a night.
It’s worked for me on numerous long-haul flights between Australia/NZ and the US and UK (12-27 hours in duration).
being hydrated is important. But IMHO there’s nothing wrong with having a buncha drinks on the flight as long as you are hydrated and get sleep.
Again, I did about 20 years worth of jetlag trying every thing under the sun. And I’ve done 5+ years of Ambien.
Lemme tell you, as I just came back from travelling with little kids (which adds a whole 'nother hellish dimension) and no ambien. Drugs are good. At least for me, half an ambien is something that helps me sleep, but I can still get up and function if one of the bambina’s need me. As I have no problem dropping off, I save that half ambien for when I wake up at 2:00 am. and, hoping that from tonight, I don’t need that sleeping helper.
Here’s a really simple thing you can do that proved very helpful to me.
I used to take lots of long haul (Can - Asia and back), flights. Very, long and lots of jet lag. I can’t even remember who taught me this, but if you can remember to do it, it will help.
Turn your lights on and off according to the hours of your destination, starting a couple of days ahead of departure.
So, if it’s daytime at your destination, your lights should be on, even if it’s the middle of the night and you’re sleeping. Even if it’s a very low light, (so you can sleep) it will work. If it’s the night time at your destination, your lights, wherever you are, should be off. (Again, you could keep a very low light on, perhaps in another room, to provide enough ambient light to be able to see to move about etc.)
Something about the light gets into your subconscious somehow and when you finally are on the ground, at your destination, your body and brain will adjust smoothly and quickly.
Made a big difference for me, give it a try.
(I also began to use pharmaceuticals. A mild relaxant to sleep away a chunk of a 15hr flight. Worked like a charm, for arriving better rested and less disheveled, but didn’t impact the jet lag one way or the other as far as I could tell.)