How To Overcome Jet Lag

How do you overcome jet lag?

I'd say a number of different things about how to overcome jet lag. First it really depends on the duration of the trip. Because if you get everything wrong it takes roughly one hour per day per time zone travelled westward to accommodate jet lag. If you've travelled eight hours west and gone over to California from London say, it won't take as much as eight days but it's nearly eight days. If you travel eastwards it takes longer than that. It takes roughly one and one half days per one-hour time zone travelled eastwards to adapt. Again, if you end up going to Australia and one is dealing with about eleven hours time zone change then one's talking about, whatever it is, fifteen, sixteen days maximum in adapting. And most people become less aware of their jet lag or the mismatch between the internal clock and where they are earlier then that. But that's in the worse case scenario. The way I'd suggest treating jet lag is to appropriately expose oneself or avoid lights at the right times. The way that works is complicated. The rule of thumb is the internal clock always speeds up to the right time at dawn every day. And so for the majority of people that's roughly between four and six in the morning. When one goes into a new time zone, if one has awareness at the time that the clock is going to start speeding up, then if that's useful for adjustment, that's the time to seek bright light. If that isn't useful, really one wants to delay the clock, then that's the time to either stay in or put one's dark glasses on. Unfortunately it's not straightforward, it's difficult other than to get hold of a jet lag calculator and work it out, say something like that. But it also depends on the duration of the trip. Because it takes such a long time for jet lag to fully change, if the trip is relatively short, say two to three days, then I would for the most recommend not even trying to adapt to the new time zone. So that may mean going to bed odd times or remaining awake at odd times. If the trip is longer than that then use the exposure to light as one of the ways of synchronizing. The other mechanisms that synchronize the biological clock to the new time zone or any time are when one eats and when one exercises and indeed social interactions and when one sleeps, all to a lesser degree than light. But use those cues. A piece of advice is not to eat much when one heads off on the trip and perhaps not to eat all that much on the plane. Because it looks as if synchronization is always better when one starts to eat at the right time, at the new time. So avoid the aircraft food and sort of fix on the new time zone and start eating on that time and that'll help alleviate the effects of jet lag and speed up the transition. The other thing to bear in mind is that jet lag is that mismatch between time zones, the time zone that your body's in and the time zone you're really in. But one impact of that is feeling more tired and fatigued at the wrong time. So, again maximum sleepiness usually occurs around four in the morning in your old time zone, which will also occur in the new time zone until you adapt. So that's the time, if you're at a meeting or you have to critically be awake, is the time to use caffeine and things to keep yourself going. To have a self-awareness of what your body clock is still telling you. And then also equally, one's least likely to fall asleep around eleven in the evening, approximately, eight, nine, ten, and eleven in the evening. Have an awareness of that so that one's not trying to go to sleep at that time. So be body aware at home and beware that that time is just going to stay with you and not to try to go to sleep at times where it's just not going to happen.