Jet lag

I would love to hear some of your tried and true methods to lessen jet lag. I am going to try to adjust my sleep/wake times before we leave at the end of this month. Flying nonstop from Atlanta to Amsterdam, about an 8 hour flight. Our flight is very late afternoon, so we will arrive early morning in Amsterdam. Advice?

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My advice is to spend as much as possible of your first day awake and walking around in Amsterdam. Let your excitement carry you a bit. Try not to go to bed until evening. It's hard but the sooner you adjust time zones the easier the rest of your trip will be.

My advice is to spend as much as possible of your first day awake and walking around in Amsterdam. Let your excitement carry you a bit. Try not to go to bed until evening. It's hard but the sooner you adjust time zones the easier the rest of your trip will be.

Agree. Stay active...walk around, avoid sitting in your hotel. It will be lighter later this time of year. If you can stay up to 9:30 or 10...great.

My advice is to spend as much as possible of your first day awake and walking around in Amsterdam. Let your excitement carry you a bit. Try not to go to bed until evening. It's hard but the sooner you adjust time zones the easier the rest of your trip will be.

This is about it. Also be hydrated. I have a friend who swears by those inflatable compression pants but I’ve never tried them myself.

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Arrive at your departure port at least 2 days early.

We did a Med cruise in 2013. Arrived in Barcelona 3 days before cruise departed. It took 2 days to adjust to the time change.

Landing in the AM is tough. Go as long as you possibly can on the day of arrival. And then possibly take a light sleep aid to make it through your first night. Aleve PM is pretty good. Just something light to help you not wake in the middle of the night.

Any time we went to Europe, South America, etc., we flew in 3 or 4 days early. Tried to stay up a while and slowly adjusted to the new time.

I always find it worse coming back.

Thanks all. We purposely chose a flight that arrived in the morning as I thought I’d read that was better for adjustment. We are arriving 2 days before cruise, so hopefully that will be enough.

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Thanks all. We purposely chose a flight that arrived in the morning as I thought I’d read that was better for adjustment. We are arriving 2 days before cruise, so hopefully that will be enough.

 

 

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Actually, I find that the flights, coming west, which land in early evening, are easier because it is almost bedtime by the time you get home and unpacked. Landing in Europe in the morning is, for me, a killer, because one is always advised to stay awake as long as possible. I find that impossible and I take a short nap as soon as the room is ready. Then later take a sleeping pill, prescription or non, and sleep the night through. No jet lag the next day.

Actually, I find that the flights, coming west, which land in early evening, are easier because it is almost bedtime by the time you get home and unpacked. Landing in Europe in the morning is, for me, a killer, because one is always advised to stay awake as long as possible. I find that impossible and I take a short nap as soon as the room is ready. Then later take a sleeping pill, prescription or non, and sleep the night through. No jet lag the next day.

Yep.. Our flights to Australia land at like 7:00 am, it's a killer.

One benefit taking cruises to South America - stays closer to the North American time zones. I also find if I can actually sleep even for a little bit on the plane, it makes a big difference adjusting at the other end.

As others have mentioned, stay awake as long as possible. If you need to take a nap, nap immediately after you land and wake up by local lunch time. Eat your meals at the local typical times.

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I highly recommend the (short) book "Overcoming Jet Lag" by Charles Ehret. Once we started following his recommendations we haven't had to waste a minute of our vacations suffering from jet lag. It's simple to follow, changing what you eat for three days prior to the trip. Totally worth it to arrive feeling rested and ready to enjoy the sights. When I first read the book I was skeptical that something so simple could make such a difference, but it really works.

I highly recommend the (short) book "Overcoming Jet Lag" by Charles Ehret. Once we started following his recommendations we haven't had to waste a minute of our vacations suffering from jet lag. It's simple to follow, changing what you eat for three days prior to the trip. Totally worth it to arrive feeling rested and ready to enjoy the sights. When I first read the book I was skeptical that something so simple could make such a difference, but it really works.

From the NYT review of his book:

The number of time zones you plan to cross determines how many days in advance of your departure you should follow his scheme. For travel within the continental United States, two days are probably enough, but travel abroad requires four days on the diet plan. The system, which basically alternates feast and fast and ends with a highprotein breakfast, goes like this:

1. Determine when breakfast time will be at your destination.

2. Starting four days before the day you are to arrive, drink no coffee, tea, caffeinated soft drinks or alcohol except between 3 and 5 P.M. Eat all meals at the regular times. The first day is a feast day: Eat a hearty high-protein breakfast and lunch (eggs, cheese, meats, high-protein cereal, cooked dried beans or peas) and a highcarbohydrate dinner (pasta, pancakes, potatoes, rice, bread, sweet dessert) that contains no high-protein food..........

Going west to east, the first day is hard but as everyone has noted try to sleep on the plane and stay awake once you get there. Getting there a few days ahead of the cruise is also great advice. I always have more trouble going east to west. You generally arrive back in the USA at the same time you left... which tends to through me off for the next couple of days. All in all I expect you'll be fine - I don't know anyone who suffers from traumatic jet lag (although I suppose it's possible). We'll be doing a similar jaunt in late June from Oregon to Amsterdam.

I detest overseas flights, can't sleep on planes, and always end up feeling like crapola when I arrive at my destination.

Roz

I have traveled from Texas to Europe a few times. Our flights always left the continental U.S. around 6 in the evening and we arrived in Europe around 8am local time (around 1am Texas time). Jet lag kicked our butts the first time over. The next time, I took a sleeping pill immediately after they served dinner on the plane. My husband woke me up when we landed and I fell perfectly fine. The trick is forcing your body to sleep when normally you would still be awake. DH, however, is not comfortable sleeping on a plane so that doesn't work for him, but it works for me!

I detest overseas flights, can't sleep on planes, and always end up feeling like crapola when I arrive at my destination.

 

Roz

Ditto. And coming from the west coast adds 5-6 hours....ugh.

I'm thinking of doing what some have suggested, staying overnight on the east coast and continuing from there the next day to break it up a bit. Just to get out of that plane and stretch out in a bed would be heavenly. :D

We also have found two shorter flights with a mid-point connection where we get out and change planes can be easier than one long flight, even when the total flight time for the two separate flights is longer than a non-stop.

Eg: West coast to Toronto - get out - have some Tim Bits - and then another flight to Barcelona - done this twice and it felt a lot saner than one long, cramped red-eye flight.

We do not budget for business class but I wonder if those who do have an easier arrival time experience since they might actually get to sleep comfortably on the plane. Also upgrading to Economy Plus makes a big difference for us and seeking out airlines that at least have 2-4-2 seating. Being at the mercy of a third seat stranger's need to get up and down at all hours during the flight is stressful too.

We do not budget for business class but I wonder if those who do have an easier arrival time experience since they might actually get to sleep comfortably on the plane.

No. If you don't sleep well on planes to start with, you don't sleep well on planes, lie flat seat or not. Maybe you'll do a bit better than being almost bolt upright and penned into a coach seat, but I rarely sleep more than 2-3 hours on a TA or TP flight, even in First.

However, I do vastly prefer a non-stop flight to changing planes - less chance of a missed connection for both my bags and myself.

One benefit taking cruises to South America - stays closer to the North American time zones. I also find if I can actually sleep even for a little bit on the plane, it makes a big difference adjusting at the other end.

Yea but it’s hard to find good airfares to SA, not enough competition. We usually end up using HAL air there.

I have traveled from Texas to Europe a few times. Our flights always left the continental U.S. around 6 in the evening and we arrived in Europe around 8am local time (around 1am Texas time). Jet lag kicked our butts the first time over. The next time, I took a sleeping pill immediately after they served dinner on the plane. My husband woke me up when we landed and I fell perfectly fine. The trick is forcing your body to sleep when normally you would still be awake. DH, however, is not comfortable sleeping on a plane so that doesn't work for him, but it works for me!

That’s exactly what I think I’ll try. I have ambien already, but wasn’t sure when to take it. I’ll definitely try this strategy. The flight times you describe are identical to what we’re taking from Atlanta.

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I would love to hear some of your tried and true methods to lessen jet lag. I am going to try to adjust my sleep/wake times before we leave at the end of this month. Flying nonstop from Atlanta to Amsterdam, about an 8 hour flight. Our flight is very late afternoon, so we will arrive early morning in Amsterdam. Advice?

 

 

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The method the DW and I use is as follows:

1) Sleep as late as possible on your departure day.

2) Do not sleep on the flight over.

3) Tough it out the next day until at least 8:00 - 9:00 that night.

4) Wake up the next morning around your regular time.

While this can be a bit tough, especially as you get into the late afternoon and evening on your day of arrival, it has worked very well for us for over 20 years. Its gets our body clocks into sync with the local time as quickly as possible.

We also find that if we split a bottle of 5-Hour Energy in the afternoon, its helps get us past the hump. 5 Hour Energy is just basically a heavy shot of B-12 and other vitamins, no sugar or caffeine. We'll always pick up a few bottles at Wal-Mart before we head out for a TATL or TPAC.

If we are going to Europe and the time difference is 6 hours we begin getting up and hour early 6 days before and continue adding an hour each day. The day of the overnight flight we get up quite early and go to the gym (open 24 hours) We then stay active all day, when we arrive at the airport we take melatonin, after dinner we put on sleep masks and go to sleep. We then try to stay awake all day until at least 8 pm and go to bed. Typically we wake up the next day rested and ready to go.