I'm jet-lagged and need help to avoid further ones after traveling for a long time.
Home, sweet home again. Finally, after two weeks of vacationing abroad. My amazing trip had me going through different time zones and between where I stayed and where I normally live, there ended up being a 6 hour time difference. Obviously, that makes me very jet-lagged now. My body just can’t seem to get over having slept and eaten at different times for the past two weeks. So I have no choice but have to readjust to my old rhythm again. So how should I best go about doing that? I have been loving <snip >these infographics for advice. But could someone please share their personal experiences with me for some more tips and tricks?
[Edited: 2012 Jan 04 23:44 - Jo Trouble:16935 - url removed.]
Reply to this For 8 years I lived in Japan and visited my family on the east coast of the US - a 13 or 14 hour time difference! Jet lag was a constant issue. Unfortunately, without advance planning, it is hard to deal with. But, for future trips...these are my tricks for big time zone changes: I try not to sleep on the plane - the more tired I am, the better I can sleep when I arrive at the time of my choosing. (bring lots of things to entertain yourself on the plane) Once I get on the plane, I reset my watch and put it away. I spend the rest of the flight in a time zone free zone. I eat when they bring food, but never think about the time. About 2 hours before we land, I put my watch on and mentally get into that zone right away. I never, ever think about what time it was where I came from. Finally - drugs! Some people take and swear by melatonin. I have not found this helpful. But, I do keep a supply of Tylenol PM (a very mild sleep aid - really more of a placebo). For the first few days after traveling, I take 2 a night to avoid waking up at weird times. For the next few days, I take only 1 and within a week, I don't need it at all.
Hope this helps in the future - happy travels!
Kim
Reply to this Hi, i live in perth australia and have has to travel to the US and UK for work for trips which is a massive sometimes 36 hours worth of travel and generally 9 to 12 hours time difference. I sort of do similar to Kim...think about what times you need to be on at the destination then attempt to get your body in to that on the way or just before. So if you left Singapore or Sydney for 10 hours of flying i would try and stay up as long as i could...till 3 or 4 am then try to sleep for as long as i could...like 8 hours. Then hopefully when you land in London or LA i'd be mostly ready to go and it would be 9am and i'd try and stay up till 8 or 9pm that night. I think water really helps for the physical side of it but people swap from night shift to day shift all the time and really you just have to force it. Also similar to Kim, in the US you could get a natural sleeping herb which fully knocked you out so if you took that at 8pm, got a good nights sleep of 10 hours then you were fully over your jetlag and ready to go 😊
I do really believe it has to do with adrenaline though and coming home always appears to be the biggest jet lag prospect.
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