Beating jetlag?

[super bean flicker]

There must be a few of you that fly often on here... how do you go about beating jetlag?

I'm natrually an early riser, but when flying east to west, I get up rediculously early (3 or 4am) and just can't sleep...

In Singapore you can buy Melatonin which is supposed to help, but its hard to tell cos you don't know how you would have slept if you didn't take it... if you get what I mean. What do the others on this board do to keep the jetlag at bay?

Cheers,

Super B Man

[jjpb3]

There must be a few of you that fly often on here... how do you go about beating jetlag?

I'm natrually an early riser, but when flying east to west, I get up rediculously early (3 or 4am) and just can't sleep...

I share your pain.

Because I'm so sensitive to jetlag, I've decided to go with the flow as much as possible. On a trip that lasts just a few (based on my internal clock, one to four) days, I decide to let my biorhythm rule and not really adjust to a new time zone (lame as that would be for evenings with friends ).

On longer stays, I do find melatonin useful ... but only if combined with staying up during daylight hours [so the natural light can help adjust my bodyclock] and exercising vigorously towards the end of daylight or beginning of nighttime at the timezone I'm in.

If I'm on work travel, I try to do the most difficult tasks at the time of the day when my body is most alert. If those times don't coincide with the location's natural workday, I either have a headstart or enjoy an additional few hours of productivity.

[N_Architect]

I am also sensitive to jetlag. Each time I fly to Europe from Asia, I promise myself I can do better and adjust faster upon arrival, however usually with no success.

Especially when travelling Y, when the journey is fairly long (usually three flights total in my case) the cramped seating does not help at all (even with SQ...). Last summer I made the mistake to travel EK Y outbound to Europe and it was really bad. On the return leg I decided to upgade to J by paying an extra 900 Euros (USD 1,200 at the time) without second thought. The problem is that EK 773s seat 10 across in Y, so you can really feel the difference if you compare with SQ 773's that seat 9 across.

Anyway, point is (imho) that sleeping on the plane helps. Not sure if others agree on this, of course.

From now on, on such long journeys, I've decided I'll be going SQ J/C (no matter whether they are up to 50% more expensive compared to other carriers). It doesn't come cheap, but I don't really want to suffer again while travelling (trying to sleep and looking for more space to stretch) and don't want to come back to Asia again needing five full days to recover, either. So the expense is justified at the moment.

One more thing: I have a Singaporean colleague who has told me that two of his close friends work as pilots for SQ. He says that no matter where they are or where they go, they will sleep normally during night time upon arrival, under any conditions. Reportedly they have a way or have developed a habit of "forcing themselves to sleep" as I was told.

Two details on this are (a) that these guys carry always running shoes and swimsuits for exercising/swimming wherever they go, and (b) they were both members of the Singapore Marine Corps during their military service. At least that's what I have been told by my S'porean colleague.

Perhaps these things cannot fully apply to ordinary people like us, nevertheless certainly being so fit should (at least in theory) possibly help a great deal.

Rgds,

[cawhite]

...Anyway, point is (imho) that sleeping on the plane helps. Not sure if others agree on this, of course...

Being able to sleep well on a plane makes a significant difference for me. I consider myself fortunate that I rarely have problems sleeping well inflight. I also do my best to immediately begin functioning on "local time" which is helpful (a "mind over matter" issue for me). I can't speak for the effectiveness of melatonin as I've never used it. I've learned through "trial & error" what works for me in order to avoid jetlag - the key to this is that everyone is different so there's no one specific solution that will work for everyone.

[McCoy]

Melatonin for me.. start taking it a few days before depature, at your intended destination 'sleepy time', and continue for a few days after arrival. Works perfectly for me. If trip duration is four days or less, then stay on home time.

[Lobster]

Being able to sleep well on a plane makes a significant difference for me. I consider myself fortunate that I rarely have problems sleeping well inflight. I also do my best to immediately begin functioning on "local time" which is helpful (a "mind over matter" issue for me). I can't speak for the effectiveness of melatonin as I've never used it. I've learned through "trial & error" what works for me in order to avoid jetlag - the key to this is that everyone is different so there's no one specific solution that will work for everyone.

Totally agree that everyone is different and you just have to work out what worksfor you. Having said that I do seem to be very similar to you. My main aim always is to get onto local time as soon as possible. This can take some planning to make sure that I do not sleep too much on the plane if it arriving late in the evening. Sometimes if the flight arrives early in the morning and my schedule allows it I will get a couple of hours sleep in the morning. But my main aim is to always be ready to sleep by about 10pm local time

[jhm]

Whatever methods you use, I do recall reading somewhere that your internal body clock takes about a day to adjust for every hour of time difference. Given that, it seems that it'll take about a week to adjust to a flight from LHR to SIN (say) and - if what I read was correct - whatever you do won't actually change that.

[HUGE AL]

Melatonin for me.. start taking it a few days before depature, at your intended destination 'sleepy time', and continue for a few days after arrival. Works perfectly for me. If trip duration is four days or less, then stay on home time.

On a trip up to SEA last weekend, a guy who commutes to LHR every week told me this is exactly what his sleep institute told him.

Since I only jetlag flying East, I usually just power through the day (why is it I always get in around 11am???) and feel like crap, but wake up the next day ready to go.

[kras]

I'm natrually an early riser, but when flying east to west, I get up rediculously early (3 or 4am) and just can't sleep...

Actually, I find flying east to west being far better than the other way around - which is why I prefer to do my RTW trips in a westerly direction.

As someone mentioned, every individual will come up with their own way of owning Jetlag.

For me, the key is to re-adjust your sleep pattern to the destination time just prior to arriving at your destination. I know some of us would not have the luxury of time in doing so - but is certainly the best way of fine-tuning your body clock for the new time zone.

Example 1: when I do a SINLHR or SINCDG, I would usually stay up for the first 4-5 hours of the flight (fight boredom and dry-eye syndrome somehow), and knock off around 7-8 hours prior to arriving at the destination. That way, you'd get around 6 hours worth of shuteye and be woken up just before landing, being around 0530-0600 local time.

Example 2: in the case of FRAJFK, I run myself down the night before by not sleeping until I get on the flight at around 0800 (SQ26). By then, I wouldn't want to do anything else but SLEEP... and ask the air stewardess to wake me as late as possible for brekky, which would be around 10am local NYC time.

Example 3: on a recent SINSFO flight via ICN, I found myself taking a short rest a few hours before the flight (leaves SIN @ 0930), and I just tried to keep myself preoccupied prior to the first transit stop. On the second part of the journey, I allowed myself to sleep for as long as I could - until arriving into SFO at around 11am local time.

I guess the key to all this is to let your body naturally want to sleep, so that you can get the shuteye you need on the plane and, subsequently, reset your body clock somewhat. I know that not everyone can do it this way - but for me, and a few others that have taken up this practice, it's probably the best way to rid of jetlag!

If no-sleep is not an option, you could take a short nap prior - but don't make it a long one coz it would just defeat the purpose of the exercise altogether!

As for melatonin, I also cannot comment much on that as I've never tried - since I've never needed to.

[flyguy]

some tech crews i spoke to say that exercises is also a good way to beat jet lag.

[super bean flicker]

thanks for all the advice - i'll try some of them out on my next trip

[matt_will_fix_it]

Just found this.... Avoiding food 'may beat jet lag'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7414437.stm

"A period of fasting with no food at all for about 16 hours is enough to engage this new clock.

"So, in this case, simply avoiding any food on the plane, and then eating as soon as you land, should help you to adjust and avoid some of the uncomfortable feelings of jet lag."

So that means passing up all the lovely offerings (especially if in C or F) in order to help with jetlag... personally I'd rather indulge on board & spent the next week tired when flying on SQ

[Kiwi]

some tech crews i spoke to say that exercises is also a good way to beat jet lag.

I fortunately don't get too much jet lag. I think my body is permanently confused as to what time zone it should be operating on

I do find exercise late afternoon/evening is a good way to adjust if the change in time zones is large.

[N_Architect]

Just found this.... Avoiding food 'may beat jet lag'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7414437.stm

I read at the WSJ today that a recent study published in a medical/scientific journal indicated that fasting before a long-haul flight helps beating jet lag.

Will try it next week (together with some pills a friend recommended).

[CarbonMan]

BBC's FastTrack

Just stumbled on this program on the BBC on some suggestions on how to beat the bane of long haul flyers - jetlag.