No Jet Lag

[SharC]

We are flying to Barcelona in September and it is the first time we will be on an international flight. Has anyone ever used the No Jet Lag pills and do they work? Any other hints will be appreciated.

Thanks.

[PoohUnderstands]

First of all when will you be going? Just curious to see if you are on the same cruise as we are, the BOS on September 20th.

 

I have found that these pills don't work. What does work is keeping yourself very hydrated with water; no alcohol on the plane; and trying to at least get a cat nap on the plane. Once you are in Barcelona, then you need to take it easy, but don't go to bed!! Go to your hotel; drop off your luggage as your room probably won't be ready yet and then take a leisurely walk around town; have a light lunch; come back to the room and check in and settle in; have a very un-Barcelona early light dinner and then crash!!! You will wake up the next morning in not too bad a shape.

 

If you are flying in the actual day of the cruise, just try to relax and enjoy and make sure you don't sleep until night. But remember, you will start your port excursions bright and early the next morning, so make sure you get enuf sleep that night!

 

Have a great cruise and trip.... You will love it.

 

Pooh

[katz]

I tried these and they didn't work. I would love to find something that does.

We will be flying to Barcelona on Sept. 30 and boarding BOS on October 2.

 

Have a great trip.

[cusyl]

We took the pills and my husband seemed to think they had cafeine in them because he couldn't get to sleep. Perhaps it was just the excitement. When we arrived we did not go to bed, but rather went out and walked around for several hours. We had no jet lag the next day.

[brandy3415]

Since the recycled air and low oxygen levels are a factor on planes, I have a personal air filter and ionizer that I wear around my neck. It helps.

 

Other remedies I have tried that I think help me--essential oils, lavender for relaxation, rosemary for energy and geranium for rejuvenation. they come in small bottles and I searched them out online--the ones I have I have now had for years, as I only put a drop or two on a damp cloth I carry in a plastic bag. Also help humidify the air I breathe.

 

Acupressure --the houristic points--also researched this online--it is complicated to explain but it does keep you busy and keeps your mind off the long and tedious flight. Also helps keep circulation going.

 

Least helpful is taking a sleeping pill the first night you arrive--some people swear by it but leaves you a bit more dissociated that you want to be in a strange place.

 

No , I never tried no jetlag but afraid to put an unproven drug in my body, no matter how natural it is.

[travelbugs]

Don't know about "no jet lag" but B&B works.( Not Brandy & Benedictine), Benedryl & a Beer.

[leenie29]

We are flying to Barcelona in September and it is the first time we will be on an international flight. Has anyone ever used the No Jet Lag pills and do they work? Any other hints will be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

My sister and her husband went to Italy (from NYC) in July and used Ambien CR. They took it right before dinner was served and slept for 5 or 6 hours on a plane to Milan. Also setting your watch to the local time in Barcelona before the plane takes off really helps your mind adjust.

 

I've used a low dose Valium and I'm pretty relaxed and ready for a light day of touring when I get there.

 

Just get out in as much sunlight as possible and as long as possible to readjust your internal clock as quickly as possible and you should be okay the next day. If you go to sleep by 8 PM (I've taken Benedryl to keep me asleep) then the next morning you should wake up ready to go.

 

Hope this helps,

Eileen

[Globaliser]

Any other hints will be appreciated.

You can't avoid jet lag. Some of it is simply unavoidable. But "jet lag" as a phenomenon is made up of many constituent parts. What you can do is to work to reduce some of them, leaving you with the minimum left over to deal with.

 

What are people suffering from when they have "jet lag"? It's almost always some combination of the following:-

1. Simple fatigue from a lack of sleep, whether from getting up early to travel, or (for longer journeys) an inability to sleep during the journey itself.
2. Mentally/psychologically "coming down" from the anticipatory excitement of travel, which will leave you feeling slightly depressed or low.
3. Dehydration, both external and internal.
4. Classic hangover symptoms, for those who have over-indulged during the journey.
5. A bloated feeling, which may come from eating more than necessary (too many people eat food on board flights when they're not hungry, simply out of boredom), or because the reduced air pressure on board encourages intestinal gas formation.
6. The sluggishness and lethargy that comes from prolonged immobility, when you don't get the level of exercise that's normal in everyday activities - not even the occasional five-minute walk or walking up or down a flight of stairs every so often.
7. The grimy/sweaty/sticky feeling from not being able to have a shower or a good wash, and the furry mouth feeling from not cleaning your teeth.
8. Circadian rhythm disruption, when your body clock continues to operate on "home" time whatever time of the day it is in the place that you are.

Partial or complete solutions to most of these are obvious, although some may interfere with others: for example, you can't get any decent sleep during the flight if you drink lots of water and walk around the aircraft once an hour.

 

This leaves the two difficult ones: sleep, and circadian rhythms.

 

My advice is always to sleep as much as you possibly can on a flight. There are a number of things you can do on a long-haul flight. My personal "flight kit" would include the following:-

• Comfortable eye shades.
• Good noise-reducing ear plugs that fit you well (not necessarily the type that supposedly ease the pressure changes).
• Slipper socks.
• A pillow.
• A blanket.

Obviously, wearing comfortable clothes goes without saying. The better airlines will provide many of these bits on any overnight flight, but I suspect that most CC members will choose to fly a US airline and therefore have to bring everything. In addition, I use a mild sleeping tablet, of the anti-histamine type - promethazine is my choice, although I believe that this is prescription-only in the US.

 

As for circadian rhythms, there really isn't a great deal that you can do about this. They take some days to reset. In between, you are likely to experience their effects: feeling sleepy twice a day at odd times (corresponding to mid-afternoon and late evening at home), feeling hungry at times corresponding to meal times at home, having to deal with your digestion shutting down when its night time at home (which can leave you with a constant heavy and full sensation in your tummy), and - worst of all - your kidneys not shutting down when it's night time where you are so you have to get up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet. While your body clock is resetting, these things can then start to happen at less predictable times as well. But it will all come right in the end.

 

Some people say that melatonin will help to reset your body clock. I've never tried this, so I don't know whether it does it. There's no money in the drug, so there's very little research being carried out on it.

 

So with all this explanation, you can see why dealing with the things that you can deal with will help you survive the effects that you can't so easily minimise.

[adaemma]

I have tried this remedy on our last two intl flights and it has worked for us, start adjusting your body clock at least 3 or 4 days before traveling by getting up one hour ealier and going to bed one hour earlier, next day 2hrs earlier and next day 3 hrs earlier. When you get up in the early morning hours(it should be around noon in Europe) turn on all the lights so you start adjusting to seeing daylight. I read this somewhere a long time ago, again it has worked for us, for my husband this is like a punishment to get up in the wee hours of the morning and complains but thanks me when we arrive in Europe feeling less jet lagged because we have already started the adjustment to European time.

 

Ada

[SharC]

Pooh- We are not sailing with you. We are on the Voyager of the Sea, leaving September 16th.

 

Thank you are for your quick response. We will not take the No Jet Lag pills but will try some of your great suggestions. I have not thought about bringing a blanket but am going to bring one now.

[Globaliser]

I have not thought about bringing a blanket but am going to bring one now.

First, see if you can find out whether you'd get one from your airline. You don't want to be lugging one around (extra weight and much bulk) if you don't have to.

 

I always used to think that getting a blanket and a pillow for every seat on the aircraft (plus spares, of course) was standard airline practice for long-haul flights. That's how I grew up, and how my usual airlines still work. But it may be that some airlines just don't do this any more. So it's worth asking.

[maylee]

After my first experience with jet lag, i vowed to make sure i slept on the flight home (I have trouble sleeping anywhere except my own bed). We had 30 hours in transit from Miami to Australia, with 5 flights, i took 2 Stilnox tablet and antihistamine tablet combined and dont remember a thing for 8 hours, also gave the kids, childrens antihistamine and they both sleep for 8 hours, and we all had no jet lag on returning home. Stilnox works on its own for most people and some find 1/2 a tablet works for them, for some reason i need more, so i certainly dont recommend 2 to start with. I know now that i can fly without jeg lag and would not leave home without them, passes the time quickly 2 :)

[dbh62ark]

SharC, I advise you to be very careful about taking any kind of medication. My husband and I are very fortunate to be leaving on our 20th trip to Europe in a few weeks, and I mention that only to let you know that we have tried many different methods to minimize jet lag, and I have found that some of those over-the-counter medications leave me feeling very drugged. I hate that feeling more than being tired and sleepy, but that's a personal preference. My observations are that what works best for me might not work well for you, so this is all just FYI. We have found that we adjust very quickly to the time change if we stay up on the day of arrival--no naps!--until around 8:00 p.m. and then sleep 11-12 hours. I can't sleep much on the plane at all, so we try to stay outdoors and/or do activities that don't require a lot of thought or concentration on the day of arrival. That might mean a scenic boat ride or walking around, etc. I use a saline nose spray on the plane (there are studies that show that if the inside of your nose is moist, the germs can't adhere to put it simply) in addition to drinking a lot of water. We wake up fairly refreshed the next day and don't suffer too much, so I hope you'll find a plan that works well for you.

 

Have a great trip,

Donna