Jet Lag...What are your tips

[Expat Cruise]

15 minutes ago, PensFan1028 said:

We have flown red-eye across the Atlantic twice now to Rome and Barcelona. The plane takes off, you have dinner and then just go to sleep like you would that night. Wake up in the morning 8 hours later like you just slept for the night and you area ready to go. Coming home is a different story and I have no suggestions :)

 A 8 hour hop is not a long flight, also makes a big difference if you are flying East or flying West. The OP is flying West for a 24 hour plus trip, including crossing the International dateline which adds a day, and a time change plus 19 hours.  When you add the long flight, gaining a day, and 19 hour time change it makes it a whole different case. 

[Zach1213]

2 hours ago, Expat Cruise said:

 A 8 hour hop is not a long flight, also makes a big difference if you are flying East or flying West. The OP is flying West for a 24 hour plus trip, including crossing the International dateline which adds a day, and a time change plus 19 hours.  When you add the long flight, gaining a day, and 19 hour time change it makes it a whole different case. 

 

To be fair, an eight hour flight can be very long depending on your body and what you're used to. To an Australian, an eight hour flight is nothing...to an American or European, it very well may be.

[beg3yrs]

On 2/3/2019 at 10:01 PM, azbirdmom said:

.....  By the next day we were on local time which is 15 hours later than our local time so this definitely was the best plan.

This is my opinion about the magnitude of a time change:

 

The biggest time change your body will experience is 12 hours. At that point your body doesn't know if it's 12 hours ahead or behind. The sleep schedule is the same.

 

If you change your watch say, 15 hours later than your original time, it's really the same as changing your watch 9 hours earlier than your original time. Your body doesn't really care as far as your sleep schedule goes. Of course make sure your calendar/date on your watch is adjusted correctly.

 

It sounds trivial but I personally believe some elements of handling jet lag are psychological as evidenced by the recommendation to set your watch to your new time as soon as the plane takes off. Minimizing in your head the amount of hours changed will certainly help as well.

[K32682]

What I learned during my years of 100k mile annual business travel was to not overthink it and don't force yourself to do anything.  If you are tired sleep when you can.  If you aren't tired don't worry about it.  If I didn't get much sleep on the plane on an overnight flight a quick cat nap to recharge upon arrival is infinitely better than forcing myself to stay awake to adjust to local time.  

[ldubs]

11 hours ago, Expat Cruise said:

 A 8 hour hop is not a long flight, also makes a big difference if you are flying East or flying West. The OP is flying West for a 24 hour plus trip, including crossing the International dateline which adds a day, and a time change plus 19 hours.  When you add the long flight, gaining a day, and 19 hour time change it makes it a whole different case. 

 

I think it is how many time zones as opposed to how long the flight is.  I have heard it takes one day per time zone to adjust back to normal.  Not at all sure that is factual.   

 

When traveling on a red-eye I personally think that it is crucial to sleep on the plane.  Then, life is good when you land!   Noise cancelling headphones were previously mentioned.  Those are a necessity in my opinion.  

 

I guess I'm lucky I can sleep on the plane.  Kind of a bummer that I seldom get to watch more than one movie on long flights because I can stay awake.  

 

Edit:  PS: I also have a tougher time flying east to west.  

Edited February 14, 2019 by ldubs

[SRF]

On 2/1/2019 at 12:07 AM, trbarton said:

Just found this on the Princess Facebook page from a flight attendant. Since I haven’t been on a long flight, 14 1/2 hrs for a long time besides myself perhaps this could be helpful to others. 

 

One thing that I always do is to set my phone/watch to the time where I’m going. When I leave San Francisco at 9:30 pm on Qantas it will be 3:30 pm in Sydney. A challenge will be to act like it’s 3:30 pm & what I’d be doing at that time. 

 

What tips/suggestions do you have?

 

Tom😀

 

I travel a lot internationally.

 

I do the watch thing, it really helps.

 

Ear plugs or noise cancelling headset are VERY important.  A lot of the fatigue from flying is actually due to the noise.  Also, over or in front of the wing is less noise than behind the wing (for aircraft with wing mounted engines).

 

I do drink some alcohol on board. 😄  But do try to stay hydrated.

 

I prefer a window seat.  1)  I have a bit more room due to the shape of the fuselage and 2)  I only have to get up when I want to get up.  The others have to get up when they want to, and when I want to. 😄

 

When I arrive, I shower and clean up, and may take a nap, but I am careful to only take a short nap.  I typically leave the curtains open.  Then I stay up until a normal bed time.

 

Once I go to bed, I take Ambien Extended Release to get to sleep and sleep a reasonable amount of time.  I will use Ambien for the first 2 - 3 nights.

 

The other tip is, travel more.  When I an doing a lot of traveling, I am fine.  When I have a couple of months without international travel, it gets harder.

 

I do NOT do melatonin.  This is a pituitary hormone, and not something you want to mess around with.  Pituitary hormones regulate many other hormones, like a master control.  

 

I have done up to 17.5 hour flights. 😄

[cruising cockroach]

Repositioning cruise, or container ship

[Bookish Angel]

My husband and I do the opposite from nearly every person here.  

 

As we cannot sleep on a plane, we lie down, sometimes napping, as soon as we get to our destination if the flight was long. We don't care if we miss something on that first day, preferring to sleep or simply rest quietly sans music, tv, or lots of light.

 

I particularly cannot function properly without adequate sleep and thus cannot be my ever-curious, adventuresome self.

 

We have tried all the tips noted herein and more to no avail.  Sleeping when our bodies need to do so works for us as does good nutrition, little to no alcohol, regular exercise, and proper body weight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[navybankerteacher]

If at all possible start resetting your watch to your destination time two days early (in one or two stages) - staying up, or going to bed early as much as possible.  I have found that two of those little bottles of Drambuie make an excellent, fast-acting sleep aid.

[Korimako]

We fly annually from NZ to Europe via Asia (24+ hour flights)and have done for years. On boarding, I always set my watch to the time at my destination. I eat all the meals and have all the free drinks on offer and have never had jet lag. Tiredness yes. Business class helps, but a tip I found for economy long haul is to take an inflatable beach ball to rest your feet on.

[dogs4fun]

On 2/14/2019 at 12:27 PM, SRF said:

Ear plugs or noise cancelling headset are VERY important.  A lot of the fatigue from flying is actually due to the noise.  Also, over or in front of the wing is less noise than behind the wing (for aircraft with wing mounted engines).

 

I do drink some alcohol on board. 😄  But do try to stay hydrated.

 

I prefer a window seat.  1)  I have a bit more room due to the shape of the fuselage and 2)  I only have to get up when I want to get up.  The others have to get up when they want to, and when I want to. 😄

 

When I arrive, I shower and clean up, and may take a nap, but I am careful to only take a short nap.  I typically leave the curtains open.  Then I stay up until a normal bed time.

 

Once I go to bed, I take Ambien Extended Release to get to sleep and sleep a reasonable amount of time.  I will use Ambien for the first 2 - 3 nights.

 

I have done up to 17.5 hour flights. 😄

Unfortunately, I am unable to sleep on airplanes. I have tried taking Ambien - it allows me only about 2 hours of airtime sleep (flights are up to 18 hours - sometimes a particularly long layover makes it worse). I do follow some of the recommendations above simply to make the flight more comfortable.

Noise cancelling headphones are a must for me & I, too, prefer a window seat. I drink no alcohol onboard but do treat myself to coffee the morning before landing.

Upon arrival at my destination, I stay up until local bedtime and then shower & take Ambien. I need Ambien for about 5 days to adjust to a 10 hour time differential.

Flying east is much easier for me - west jet lag is much worse.

[SRF]

9 hours ago, dogs4fun said:

Unfortunately, I am unable to sleep on airplanes. I have tried taking Ambien - it allows me only about 2 hours of airtime sleep (flights are up to 18 hours - sometimes a particularly long layover makes it worse). 

 

Have you tried the Extended Release version?  It keeps me asleep about 7 hours.

[NantahalaCruiser]

On 2/13/2019 at 7:17 PM, ldubs said:

 

I think it is how many time zones as opposed to how long the flight is.  I have heard it takes one day per time zone to adjust back to normal.  Not at all sure that is factual.   

 

When traveling on a red-eye I personally think that it is crucial to sleep on the plane.  Then, life is good when you land!   Noise cancelling headphones were previously mentioned.  Those are a necessity in my opinion.  

 

I guess I'm lucky I can sleep on the plane.  Kind of a bummer that I seldom get to watch more than one movie on long flights because I can stay awake.  

 

Edit:  PS: I also have a tougher time flying east to west.  

I can't sleep much on planes. Coming home from Singapore to Charlotte, NC with two layovers, total time was 27 hours, and probably got only 2 or 3 hours of barely asleep. But I was able to watch 8 movies!

[dogs4fun]

13 hours ago, SRF said:

 

Have you tried the Extended Release version?  It keeps me asleep about 7 hours.

Yes, it does not keep me asleep on airplanes but does keep me asleep on land. Strange.

[K32682]

23 hours ago, dogs4fun said:

Unfortunately, I am unable to sleep on airplanes. I have tried taking Ambien - it allows me only about 2 hours of airtime sleep (flights are up to 18 hours - sometimes a particularly long layover makes it worse).

 

You might want to consider Lunesta (aka zopiclone.)  The common prescription is 7.5mg.  I find half is sufficient for flights under 7 hours while a full tab is what I take for the serious long hauls.  

 

Is your inability to sleep anxiety related?  Another option might be Ativan. 

[dogs4fun]

3 hours ago, K32682 said:

 

You might want to consider Lunesta (aka zopiclone.)  The common prescription is 7.5mg.  I find half is sufficient for flights under 7 hours while a full tab is what I take for the serious long hauls.  

 

Is your inability to sleep anxiety related?  Another option might be Ativan. 

Thanks - I will ask my PCP about these when next I visit. I believe that my inability to sleep on planes is tied to one particular anxiety - flight. I have no issues with Ambien when on land and have no anxiety related complaints.

Edited February 17, 2019 by dogs4fun

[ldubs]

13 hours ago, NantahalaCruiser said:

I can't sleep much on planes. Coming home from Singapore to Charlotte, NC with two layovers, total time was 27 hours, and probably got only 2 or 3 hours of barely asleep. But I was able to watch 8 movies!

Yeah, not being able to sleep really makes it bleary-eyed tough.  That flight would really be a doozie -- I suspect you had stops in Japan and the West Coast. 

[Haoie]

I fly from AKL to LAX usually annually.

 

Suggestions already noted are good.

Get onto local time the second you get onto the flight, or even at the airport.

A decent meal does wonders too!

I pack light, so bringing one of those neck pillows seems redundant. Use some clothes as a pillow.

[SRF]

FYI, I wait until I have boarded to change my watch.  Otherwise, I would probably miss a flight at some point. 😄

 

[K32682]

On 2/17/2019 at 12:27 PM, dogs4fun said:

Thanks - I will ask my PCP about these when next I visit. I believe that my inability to sleep on planes is tied to one particular anxiety - flight. I have no issues with Ambien when on land and have no anxiety related complaints.

 

If you are an anxious flyer then Ativan or a similar product may help.  When I first began regular long-distance business flying in the 90's it got me through some initial anxiety.  I stopped taking it about a year later when I become more accustomed to flying.  

[SRF]

My body to trained to the concept of on airplane = sleep.

 

My ex used to joke that I would be snoozing before boarding was completed.