Jet Lag Combatant

[Maplepie]

How do you cigar travellers fight it!? I know about the standard: "Travel east;Sleep earlier. Travel west;Sleep later" thing. That just makes sense. But that only goes so far.

What have you done about jet lag. and more importantly: what has actually worked?

I feel like there are better ways to do this than just taking simple melatonin tablets on the plane when flying over night. I aslo don't enjoy dabbling into synthetics like nighquil or even natural drugs like opiates.

Advice?

[Webbo]

Travelling all the time with work I thought I knew all the answers, not so. Arrived in Vietnam 3 days ago and not slept properly yet. Last night tried the option of a decent bottle of Shiraz and a 2012 RASS, although I can recommend this combo it was absolutely no help with the jet lag.

[Maplepie]

although I can recommend this combo it was absolutely no help with the jet lag.

that made me chuckle.

surprising. 3 days is quite a decent amount!! hope it gets better...

Do you normally just adjust normally? no techniques there??

[Ken Gargett]

i'm normally not too bad - never cop it when leaving australia no matter which way, but can get it coming home. and this time, worst ever. got home 10-11 days ago. thought i was finally over it but then last night, had a work presentation and got home near midnight. knackered but could not sleep and then out cold till 10.15am.

i can't seem to throw it. the other day went two days without a wink. another day 16 hours sleep - never do that.

been trying to get back into usual cycle which usually works. not so far.

and i've been copping ever solution imaginable. one mate swears sitting in the sun for a day. several have insisted eating potatoes and carbo loading. sleeping pill. you name it.

had a gutful.

[Moogypug]

Melatonin may help. You can try that in addition to sleep schedule modification.

[LordAnubis]

The lighting i find helps me a lot. I travel a fair bit, and also do night shift/day shift regularly. i.e. if i need to be sleeping and its light out, alfoil the windows over and make it pitch black in your room. If i need to be awake and its dark out then bright lights. i mean turn on all the lights available to you, more than you normally need just to see. Also try being outside as much as possible. If you're supposed to be awake and its day time go outside in the sun, walk around, it'll make you nice and tired for night time when you need to sleep.

I adjust myself before i leave on my trip. ie if i'm going to be flying to London from Perth, i'll stay up late and wake up london morning time. Then when i land there im already on their time zone. Some thing for the return journey. Always stay up late as well.... never sleep in. Stay up late and then go to sleep on the new time zone you are adjusting to.

[Optic101]

Was traveling quite frequent for about 4 years a few years back.

Europe-Asia once a month and sometimes adding a trip to US.

If possible I try to arrive late afternoon or evening at destination.

When in the plane one of the first action is to adjust my watch to local time at destination which helps me to adjust my mindset.

I treat the flight time like a normal day. Eating, working, entertainment, sleep/rest (at least 2-3 hours for a 10+ hour flight).

At destination keep your schedule busy but not too stressed if possible.

Still follow this routine but cut back a bit on frequency.

[Duxnutz]

Regular exercise helps and after a long flight is well advised to get the circulation going again.

I use a couple herbal sleeping pills by the brand 'Natures Own' that seem to work well RE-adjusting back after being in the Sandpit. Always get me to sleep and don't have the hangover affect the others have, Unisom etc. I'm not a pill popper by any stretch of the imagination but my doc recommended me those in particular as I'm not allowed to take melatonin etc.

A former co-worker swears by NyQuil!

[Habana Mike]

Never really had much problem with jet lag.

I've found that when traveling US to Europe that if I catch a few hours sleep on the redeye over and then stay up until that evening, getting out and walking around for a few hours during the day, I get to sleep pretty easily and adapt almost immediately.

Traveling to the west coast I stay up as late as I can (1:00-2:00AM) so I don't wake up at 3AM!

Going to APAC I try to time my sleep cycle on the 12-14 hour flights to match my destination's time zone.

Went to India late last year and it was ~34 hours home to destination hotel. 2 hours to Newark later afternoon, 2 hour layover, 7 hours to Amsterdam, 2 hour layover, 9 hours to Mumbai.

Slept the full EWR/AMS leg and a few hours early on the AMS/BOM leg. Landed around midnight local and had a 6 hour layover in Mumbai before my 2 hour flight to Hyderabad. Up that whole time, took a couple hour nap from around 9:30 to 11:30AM then up rest of the day into late evening.

Slept like a rock and was pretty well acclimated the remainder of the trip except for nodding a bit in the late afternoon first 3 days or so.

On a rare occasion I'll take an Ambien to sleep at the appropriate time.

[Maplepie]

cheers for all the advice!!

daylight thing wasn't something i considered as much. will probably start adjusting my circadian clock a few weeks in advance like always. the light stuff will be a bonus as long as i can brave it. i drink all my coffees decaff so caffeine has a HUGE effect on me. will stop drinking dark softdrinks for a week leading up to. that way, i can always just take a few espresso shots if needed to shock my body into adjusting. i can't really do the whole 'no sleep for 18-36' hour thing so that's out.

i'm also strongly against all these weird artificially sleep enhancers. i normally just take the hormonal imbalances of melatonin

or if i really need it, i'll just take a few opiates i have. those are magical for sleep and the flu.

3 root canals later and my entire medicine cabinet has a shelf of just opiates. perfectly legal stuff!!

[El Presidente]

I don't normally have an issue. Simply I never sleep upon arrival until the locals sleep. Can make for a long first day or two but am generally exhausted once I hit the pillow and crash for at least 6-7 hours. I keep myself busy those first few days. never kip/nap.

[polarbear]

I change my meal times to match the country I'm heading to.

As soon as I step on the plan I set my watch to my destination country and then eat breakfast at 7am destination time, lunch at 12:30pm destination time, exc.

I find this helps to tell my body what time it is. The downside is if you're crossing the dateline the time between when you ate at home and when you eat again could be 12 hours.

[Fuzz AI]

I've heard those infrared eye masks work well to overcome jet lag. Never used one myself as I'm usually pretty good coping.

I don't sleep much anyways as I'm an insomniac, however, I do find it really easy to sleep on board planes.

[Maplepie]

Habit synchronisation seems to be the best idea so far - and the most natural/logical.

Either that or just toss your entire sleep, eat, play schedule out of order and have them line up in the new time zone you're in. There's more than one way to shuffle a deck of cards!!

I don't sleep much anyways as I'm an insomniac, however, I do find it really easy to sleep on board planes.

1. Get Chris a private jet so he'll sleep well.

2. Take his Moderator position when he starts to lag on his moderating.

[airtrade]

I can't sleep well at home. So I'll second just staying up until local bedtime.

[chrisgeo]

A trick I learned a long time ago: eat on the schedule of the place you're going to.

This may mean not eating on a plane, but really, how can you be hungry sitting on a 8+ hour flight?

Either way, it's always worked for me. I exclude alcohol from my restrictions so maybe that helps.

[CigarEnthusiast]

Just like to add that staying hydrated is very important as well. When traveling I like to drink a gallon or about 4 liters of water. This way the body can adapt quicker to any changes in environment.

[Drguano]

I wrote a response to this yesterday after an eight hour flight from London to Minneapolis and it vanished before I could post it. Hallucination? Going to London, I set my watch ahead as soon as I get seated. Then I assume the frame of mind that I am in that time zone> In the course of the flight, I have a few glasses of champagne, eat dinner, sleep a few hours and head straight from LHR to Ajay's in Teddington where I smoke a massive cigar. That gives me the impetus to stay up late at the pub and sleep straight through the first night in the UK. I am usually synchronized and ready for action the next day after a cup of tea. If not, time to start drinking to mask to effects of jet lag with the more familiar feeling of drunkeness.

[ZinZan]

I do take some sleeping pills that makes adjustment much faster but I dont have problems going to the destination but I usually suffer when coming back. If its a couple days trip its not too bad if its more than a week than its quite bad. Takes at least 2 days for me.

[Coolio]

The best solution for jet lag I've found is Business class. there's nothing like getting some sleep on board.

I'm lucky though, as if I didn't work for an airline I wouldn't be able to afford the ticket!

[Coolio]

Regular exercise helps and after a long flight is well advised to get the circulation going again.

I use a couple herbal sleeping pills by the brand 'Natures Own' that seem to work well RE-adjusting back after being in the Sandpit. Always get me to sleep and don't have the hangover affect the others have, Unisom etc. I'm not a pill popper by any stretch of the imagination but my doc recommended me those in particular as I'm not allowed to take melatonin etc.

A former co-worker swears by NyQuil!

I would've thought the fluffy pillows and on call foot massage in crew rest would help with jet lag somewhat Dux?