Coping with jetlag

Prompted by another poster, I though it may be interesting to ask what you find the best way to cope with jet lag - do you set your watch to destination time, do you drink more booze as a sedative, what is the best take of time for an eastbound flight, perhaps a jog on arrival helps you, etc, etc.

Personally I go for the booze and watch reset combined with trying to get a night flight east bound and a day flight west bound.

Originally posted by sailor99
Personally I go for the booze and watch reset combined with trying to get a night flight east bound and a day flight west bound.

I'm with you on booze and watch reset, but I don't agree on the night flight east-bound: I find that the short overnight flight from the east coast back to UK pretty much wipes me out everytime, even up the comfy end. I find VS18 best for me - set your watch to civilised time as you enter the CH at EWR (which means it is lunchtime), so you can reasonably accept the champagne that's offered to you. Then repeat as required until you get back to UK at around 8 pm. Voila - no jet lag! (Bit of a hang over occasionally, but that doesn't count )

Best wishes

David

Edited 'cos I got my east and west mixed up. Doh!

Large single malt, as much sleep as possible eastbound, and a brisk trot to win the arrivals handicap at the other end, particularly if using one of the far gates at LHR T3.

Sometimes when I'm in the US for a short time I make a conscious decision not to move my body clock too far, so you'll probably find me awake at around 4am in Washington DC.

BC

Good question, I think everyone deals with this differently! I Find that setting my watch to local time and going to bed at the normal time in that destination where possible..

So if I land in NYC at 16:00 local (21:00 UTC) stay awake until 22:00 Local (03:00 UTC) and like wise if its LAX/SFO on the west coast say SFO arrive at 13:00 (21:00 UTC) try to keep awake until 22:00 local

If You think you are awake for ages... Yes you are so try and get as musch rest as you can on the flight, Ideal in UCS as you eat in the CH, sleep onboard then order your main meal at the end of the flight so you are ready for the day... Eating at the start then only having afternoon tea means your body will be craving food before bed.

And if you dont drag your day out youll still wake up at about 8 or 9 uk time (4 0r 5 Local east coast)

same to the uk Eat in the CH then sleep and make use of Revivals, a shower is always good to wake up!

Going to the States I always try and get the VS45 (old 3) as it means I don't have to be up too early that day.
I never even bother trying to sleep on an east coast flight, even up front on the way out. Normally once I get to the US I'll take a pro plus, have a good shower and head straight out for margaritas.
I always endevour to stay awake till about 11 on the first night, that said I'm normally knackered for the first few days.

A lot of people seem to think that going west is easier, personally I have always found going east easier on the body. Okay you don't often wake up until 11am but I generally have the stamina to keep going until about 3 in the morning...

Dean

I think most of us have a plan for trips to the US - in both directions I always put my watch to local time - and then on the westbound when I get to the US I sty up till 10 or 11 pm and tryu to get into "US" time as quickly as I can - it still doest stop me from waking up at 4 in the morning tho!!!

On the way back I usually eat before I get on then perhaps watch the first film and then try to sleep. On arrival back to the UK I usually have a driver to take us home ( back to Solihull) - its as cheap as parking the car at LGW or LHR - and have a snooze on the way back home. Once home I try to stay awake all day and then go to bed at 9 or 10 - usually this gets me back onto UK time pretty quickly - however - I rarely plan going to work the day after an eats west trip and try to have a relaxing day the day after!!

Obviously flying west to east presents the same issues only I find that I have less problems staying awake -= probably because of the excitement of going on holiday!! Guess it might be different if its a business trip!!

Last year we went to South Africa - 12 hour flight - but no jet lag at all - fan- bleeding - tastic!!!!!

I have a trip to SYD coming up at the end of March, with no stopover in HKG.
I am lucky enough to be in UCS, so maybe able to get a few hours, but how in the world do you get your body ready for that kinda hit!![|)][|)]

Rgds
Jon

I reckon jet lag is all in the mind! Going east to PVG is the hardest for me travelling in Y with little chance of sleeping. I set my watch to China time as soon as I'm on the flight, then start telling my self it is midnight (at 4pm UK time), then try to doze all through the flight. Arrive in PVG at 10am and then struggle to stay awake until the evening. Hard but it works as I sleep normally the next day.
Going west back to the UK is just like a late night out on the town. Set my watch foward as soon as it is a sensible time in the UK, then enjoy v:port for the entire flight. Arrive early evening and just stay awake for a few more hours.

Usually when coming back from the US I try to get an early arrival in to London, then go directly to work where it is generally frowned upon to fall asleep at your desk.

So, in short, get the destination time into your mind as soon possible, and make sure you stay awake until something close to bed time when you arrive.

The one hint I have is don't get too drunk on Virgin vodka that you fall asleep on the train, waking up just in time to see the train pulling out of your station [:w]

[HighFlyer]

To be honest, i dont really suffer from it. I count myself extremely lucky and im hoping that its not just because i am young.

I dont do any of the 'getting myself into the new time zone' routine, i might go to bed a bit earlier when i reach my destination, but if i have had a good flight then i usually have the energy to do something on the first day, even if it just a look around the local area to get my bearings. My personal best was flying to JFK in Y, and within 90mins of landing i was on top of the Empire States building. I got a whole day of sightseeing in, and didnt stop for the next four days of my trip. I flew back home (in Y also) and after resting on the day i got back, i was at work the following day all bright and breezy!

The only time i really felt out of sorts was on my SYD-LAX flight where i crossed the international dateline (leaving SYD Tuesday night and arriving at LAX on Tuesday morning!) but that was mainly as i couldnt quite get over arriving before i had left.

When i get home from a trip i usually stay up, to be honest now i have discovered the joy that is Revivals, once i have had a shower and some breakfast there i feel refreshed and the temptation to climb into bed when i get home has gone. Then by the time i go to bed in the evenng i am suitably tired, and i dont seem to have any problem sleeping from then onwards.

I think part of the problem is out perception of times and dates, and not leaving it to our bodies to tell us what we need.

Thanks,
Sarah

My only tip for jetlag is to accept that you will wake up at some wierd time on the first couple of nights and to not get wound up about it.

When I fly to LAX I always wake up at around 0400 no matter what, what I've learnt to do is accept it and I usually drop back off within a few minutes. If you lie there thinking about it you'll never get back to sleep

[Decker]

Sorry Sarah but it's 'cos you're young. Get's worse from 30+ and even worse from 40+ [:(].

[mitchja]

As I work shifts (6-2, 2-10 and 10-6 nights) I'm up at strange hours anyway - which definatley does help with the jetlag.

I too set my watch to the destination time as soon as I board the A/C trying to eat and sleep at roughly the right times based on the destination time-zone. I always make sure I get a good nights rest the night before any flight and I eat light meals, nothing too heavy.

If I'm in the US for more than a few days, I gradually get up earlier every morning to at least try and get back into GMT. When I get home I always stay awake and go to bed at normal times. I'll force myself to keep busy doing things. Going for a walk seems to help.

Flying UCS does help, but you do still feel the effects of jetlag. Revivals is great but the worst bit for me is always waiting for my domestic flight back up to MAN so I try and book these with minimal waiting times inbetween arriving at LHR or LGW.

I did read somewhere that the more you travel across time zones, the easier it gets!!!!

Regards

Now the Cabin Crew will have ways of dealing with this in the short, but many trips they undertake. Personally I have two ways of dealing with it, depending on how long the stay is.

When I do my New York weekender I keep my watch on UK time for the entire trip and live 5 hours in front of everyone else. This works in the US as it pretty much a 24hour country.

When I do the longer trips the only part i worry about the the east-bound travel.

I sleep if I can on the plane, I catch 40 winks in the car ride back and then sleep for 1 or 2 hours max when I get home.

Then for the next week I take a 'supplement' called Melatonin which is available freely in the usa. I take 3mg (reducing to 1mg on the 5th day) about 30 mins before I want to sleep.

It is natural and if it weren't for man-made light sources we would all produce enough of it anyway. But as with most things there are side effects.

I think this site will answer most questions.

http://www.melatonin.com/

Paul

[HighFlyer]

Sorry Sarah but it's 'cos you're young. Get's worse from 30+ and even worse from 40+

Doh!

Enter my back up plan for my middle age ... Alcohol and Night Nurse!! [:o)]

Certainly when I was doing China every 3-4 weeks it got alot easier. So perhaps crossing time lines frequently does help.

For me going east is much harder. Heading west, its like a long day rather than a complete change of time, although maybe that was because I was returning to my home timezone.

I think the point about not getting worried about waking at odd hours is good - just make the most of it, go out for an early walk, or whatever.

Be aware that recent studies suggest there is little evidence that melatonin works for jet lag. I tried it a few times and it had no effect, but each to their own.

BC

Generally do the same as others-set the watch as soon (or sooner) as I get on board, then try to match the destination time activities when I get there. I'm usually OK with the tiredness aspect, but it's my digestive tract that's hard to convince. Eating a main meal on the East Coast after arrival on VS001 is awfully hard when your tummy thinks it's 3 o'clock in the morning! It's OK within 24 hours though.

One other thing, jet lag becomes easier when you have babies and toddlers around at home, you can take a sleep whenever you get it, regardless of the time, as they can have you up at any and all hours of the night! I used to have trouble sleeping eastbound on VS002-not any more!

Nice topic.

I tend to do the same as most, but tend to drink far too much alcohol on my outbound - starting usually with champagne at what is 6am destination time.

On the return I find I'm usually so tired that I can cope quite well and have a few drinks and then sleep back most of the way.

My main problem is the 6 meals you tend to have on the outbound......

I find the far east flights worse when you fly LHR-KUL or similar and I agree it gets worse as you approach 40[8D]

Although I set my watch to destination time as soon as I'm onboard the plane, I don't really use it to guide my actions - more just to know how close we are to destination

Usual strategy Westbound is to go to bed fairly late the night before departure (usually work & packing determine this one anyway [:I]). In the CH I'll have a decent dose of alcohol along with a relaxing V:Touch treatment and then sleep for a bit during the flight. On arrival, I might have a nap during the transfer from airport to destination, but after that I stay awake until ~midnight local time (more often than not, I'll go out for a meal & drinks with friends until I feel completely worn out). Next morning, I'm awake at ~8-9am and straight onto local time, nice & easy does it

Eastbound, I've never yet managed to get perfectly right, and for me it's certainly much more difficult than Westbound. I try to dose up on alcohol in the CH in the hopes of being knocked out for the flight, but it never seems to work very well - I hardly ever sleep for any length of time on the flight. A good shower & treatment in Revivals helps perk me up a bit before the ride home, though sometimes I'll nap on the way home. When I get home, I try to go through the mountain of post & email but usually end up being unable to fend off sleep and go to bed very early. Next morning I'm awake very early too - usually takes a week for me to get back into GMT/BST completely.

Cheers

Michael

On East bound flights back to the UK I always try and eat in the CH beforehand to save the precious time I have to sleep. I always find a few glasses of booze help, but then i'm lying there thinking that I can't sleep now because I'm going to need to get up again in an hour for a wee!

As for SYD coming up, this is a whole new dimension to eastbound travel and I have no idea how I will cope![?]

Dean

I find Westbound OK - as many people have advised here I personally think the key is to change the watch on boarding and try to stay up until your normal bedtime at the destination. I also have no real option for that normally as if visiting the family retreat by the time I've landed at MCO, gone through all the checks and driven to Bradenton I've normally got just enough time to eat and buy some supplies before it is about 10! [:I]

As for eastbound I'm still at a loss - sleep does help but normally I turn up at work about 24 hours after returning from the USA in an unfit state and takes 2-3 days to return to normal.

Originally posted by BlackCat
Be aware that recent studies suggest there is little evidence that melatonin works for jet lag. I tried it a few times and it had no effect, but each to their own.

BC

It does say on the site I linked to that in their studies it does not work on 10% of people. It also says it can work for Jet Lag and it does certainly work for me.

Paul

Originally posted by sailor99


For me going east is much harder. Heading west, its like a long day rather than a complete change of time

Yeah I agree, in my mind I leave my hotel in Shanghai at 9am and arrive back home in the uk at 9pm... The @20hours in between is just a good excuse to watch everything on V:port [y]

Originally posted by p17blo

Originally posted by BlackCat
Be aware that recent studies suggest there is little evidence that melatonin works for jet lag. I tried it a few times and it had no effect, but each to their own.

BC

It does say on the site I linked to that in their studies it does not work on 10% of people. It also says it can work for Jet Lag and it does certainly work for me.

Paul

Paul -- you linked to a site that sells melatonin, they are hardly going to tell you it doesn't work! Like I said, some people do swear by it, but most medical studies have concluded that benefits are marginal (if present at all) for jet lag.

BC