Best Suggestions to Beat Jet Lag

[Mark.Jules]

I have watched multiple videos on the subject and have some solid ideas; now it is time to ask those with experience.

 

What are your go to methods for beating or at least keeping jet lag in check? ✈️

 

Do you have specific pre-trip - first day techniques?

 

We are flying non-stop from SLC to Amsterdam a 10 hour flight departing about 2:45 pm and arriving the next morning at 8:30 am (so about 1 am SLC time)

 

We are spending a week in Amsterdam before we board Apex, so I think by the time we get on the ship we will be ok, but I want to adjust to the time change as fast a possible so we can enjoy our time without too many fatigue filled days. 

 

Thank you very much.

[DaKahuna]

2 minutes ago, Mark.Jules said:

I have watched multiple videos on the subject and have some solid ideas; now it is time to ask those with experience.

 

What are your go to methods for beating or at least keeping jet lag in check? ✈️

 

Do you have specific pre-trip - first day techniques?

 

We are flying non-stop from SLC to Amsterdam a 10 hour flight departing about 2:45 pm and arriving the next morning at 8:30 am (so about 1 am SLC time)

 

We are spending a week in Amsterdam before we board Apex, so I think by the time we get on the ship we will be ok, but I want to adjust to the time change as fast a possible so we can enjoy our time without too many fatigue filled days. 

 

Thank you very much.

 

Get as much sleep as you can on the flight. 

 

 When you get to your hotel in Amsterdam, take a very short nap as soon as you can and then stay awake until your normal bed time (local Amsterdam time) and then go to bed.  

 

 I always try and adopt my schedule to the local time as quickly as possible and it seems to help. 

 

[Arizona Wildcat]

Get to the airport tired to 

5 minutes ago, Mark.Jules said:

I have watched multiple videos on the subject and have some solid ideas; now it is time to ask those with experience.

 

What are your go to methods for beating or at least keeping jet lag in check? ✈️

 

Do you have specific pre-trip - first day techniques?

 

We are flying non-stop from SLC to Amsterdam a 10 hour flight departing about 2:45 pm and arriving the next morning at 8:30 am (so about 1 am SLC time)

 

We are spending a week in Amsterdam before we board Apex, so I think by the time we get on the ship we will be ok, but I want to adjust to the time change as fast a possible so we can enjoy our time without too many fatigue filled days. 

 

Thank you very much.

Stay up.the night before your flight - get to the airport tired and sleep on the plane after breakfast.

As said a NAP - not over an hour - at your hotel in AMS.  Go to bed that night at your regular time.  You should be fine the next day.

PS - no alcohol the night before flying.

[TreeCity]

1 minute ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Get to the airport tired to 

Stay up.the night before your flight - get to the airport tired and sleep on the plane after breakfast.

As said a NAP - not over an hour - at your hotel in AMS.  Go to bed that night at your regular time.  You should be fine the next day.

PS - no alcohol the night before flying.

Well I blew that on the no alcohol :-}

[jelayne]

Agree get some sleep on the plane, avoid alcohol on the flight.  If your hotel is not ready do some sightseeing.  We like to walk around the area we are staying, scout out dinner options  and grab a light lunch or snack.  When we can get into our hotel room we take a nap, shower and head out for some more sightseeing and dinner.  We go to bed around 9 local time.

We are normally nightowls, going to bed between midnight and 2, so getting to bed early let’s us get some extra catch up sleep 

[Tigerfnan23]

We try to just power through our first day.  At most we may take a one hour nap.  Then we head to bed around 9 and then are pretty much ready to go by day 2.  

[mrgabriel]

I go over to the U.K. for long weekends about once a year and there is no time for jet lag when you're only over for 4-5 days. 

 

I go to bed an hour earlier each night for 4-5 days in advance. That means that the day before my flight over, I may go to bed at 6 pm and get up at 3 am.

 

When I get on the plane, I don't eat or drink ANYTHING. I'll have dinner and glass of wine in the terminal before boarding. As soon as the flight lifts off, I take half a sleeping pill, put on noise-cancelling headphones, an eye mask and my TRTL pillow and go to sleep. No booze ... no meal ... no movies. Go to sleep. Most flights I get about 6 good hours of sleep. The best seat (short of lay flat) is a bulkhead because you can stretch out and people can get past you without waking you up. If you have a bulkhead seat, use an inflatable foot rest so you can get comfortable.  

 

Once I'm on the ground, I don't nap - I just keep going. Go for a walk, get outside and move around.  Drink plenty of water. I'll have dinner at the usual time, then maybe go to bed a bit earlier that night.

 

[neeuqdrazil]

Adding my name to the no-nap brigade. Try to move your sleep time up by at least a few hours before you leave SLC so that you're able to fall asleep as quickly as possible on the flight. Also let the flight attendant know that you're going to be sleeping, so that they don't wake you up for beverages/meals. 

 

Since you'll be arriving so early, it's doubtful that your hotel room will be ready. I've had good luck with a package of body wipes and a package of face wipes and doing a "pits and privates" wipedown in an airport bathroom (significantly more spacious than the airplane WC) and changing some undergarments. Since you'll have been travelling for so long, you might find that you feel better for changing completely after landing, but that's more of a personal choice.  

 

I've found that keeping moving helps the most - once I sit down (especially in the afternoon, when it's getting close to my home time-zone bedtime), I start to flag. Caffeinate moderately in the morning, if you normally caffeinate, but don't consume past when you would normally consume (so if you only drink coffee in the morning at home, stop drinking coffee by noon in AMS.) Eat at time-zone appropriate times, and then head to bed early that evening. 

 

Definitely stay hydrated (including on the plane.) 

[Mark.Jules]

Love so many of these ideas, thank you for sharing your hacks.

[wowzz]

I find Melatonin helps me to sleep the first few nights ,  but obviously that is just my personal opinion, not a recommendation. 

[waterbug123]

We have found that a nap, even a short one, on arrival day just makes us feel worse, regardless of how much or how little we sleep on the plane.  So on arrival we check in or drop our bags, freshen up if room is ready, get  coffee and head out to power through the first day.  sunshine helps reset your body clock so spend time outside, eat a good dinner and go to bed about 9-10pm.  We wake up after a full night of sleep refreshed and ready to go, and largely adjusted to the time difference.

[SamfromOz]

I agree about not napping. It can make you terribly groggy, and we slept through a couple of times when we used to do that, while Lae afternoon. Which just made things worse.

I’m Australian, and was an expat for ten years, living in Singapore and Tokyo, with lots of flights to France (where my husbands head office was) So have dealt with jet lag a lot.

My advice is to try to sleep on the plane. If you don’t have early checkin at your accommodation, see if you can grab a shower at the airport (we’ll, that’s what we do, but our flight is often much longer than yours. We have a 23 hour flight before our upcoming August cruise from Southampton)

Then, just power through the day. Drink some coffee, and try to walk around outside for part of the time. Sunlight on the skin helps to reset your melatonin levels, making the next day easier.

With an 8am arrival, we would probably have a very early dinner (maybe at 5.30 pm, depending on how we felt) Then hit the hay hard at about 7.30 -8.00 pm.

Doing it this way, we tend to sleep through, then wake early the next day, adjusted and good to go.

[6rugrats]

What flight is 23 hours?  

[Globaliser]

1 hour ago, 6rugrats said:

What flight is 23 hours?  

 

Sydney to London, at a guess?

[GeezerCouple]

4 hours ago, Globaliser said:

 

Sydney to London, at a guess?

 

I thought this was about 19+ hours, approximately or just slightly more than the Newark to Singapore flight.

 

GC

[Globaliser]

2 hours ago, GeezerCouple said:

I thought this was about 19+ hours, approximately or just slightly more than the Newark to Singapore flight.

 

Taking tomorrow (2 May), the four fastest Sydney to London itineraries are operated by Singapore Airlines (22:40), Emirates (23:15), Qantas --> British Airways (23:20) and British Airways (23:40).

[GeezerCouple]

10 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

 

Taking tomorrow (2 May), the four fastest Sydney to London itineraries are operated by Singapore Airlines (22:40), Emirates (23:15), Qantas --> British Airways (23:20) and British Airways (23:40).

 

Thanks... I had no idea they were that long!

Just before Covid, we took the then-longest flight, from Newark to Singapore, but at least we were eating and sleeping the entire way (thank you awards! 🙂 ).  It was actually a wonderful flight; the food was incredible, with their "Book The Cook" choice.

I cannot imagine doing that without a flatbed, even when we were younger.  And certainly not these days, with our aging bodies!

 

However, we have also wondered if the war has changed the flight path and thus the length of the flight.  We enjoyed watching the flight path, noting as we went right near/over Moscow, and continued through Russia, and then we noticed Afghanistan a bit to the south of us, etc.

There is another "NY area to Singapore" on Singapore Airlines, but that one, from JFK, stops in FRA, so any NY-Singapore flight time on that one would include a stop.

 

I still find it a bit mind-boggling to think of these planes in the air that long, on the routes without stops.

 

GC

 

[Globaliser]

12 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

I still find it a bit mind-boggling to think of these planes in the air that long, on the routes without stops.

 

Sydney to London can't be done non-stop yet. It'll be a little less than the current durations when those flights do start. But for jet lag purposes, it'll make little difference whether you're on a 21-hour non-stop flight or (as now) a 23-hour one-stop flight.

[travelwell]

We took a once in a lifetime trip a few months ago to Asia. We had 7 flights, the shortest being 4 hours  and longest 15 hours. I normally suffer terrible jet lag. A frequent flyer we know recommended trying an app called Timeshifter. For was free for a first trip. My first trip included all seven flights over 7 weeks. Basically it has you control light, dark, caffeine and sleeping patterns 48 hours prior to the flight and during the flight. (Then the app has recommended times if choose to add Melatonin). It is very individualized. I figured what did I have to loose. Well it was incredible for me, no jet lag. My DH watched me on the first two flights and used the app too. Might give it a try.

 

 

[staceyglow]

I have used this website to sleep-shift for my last two trips to Europe and it worked incredibly well:

 

https://sleepopolis.com/calculators/jet-lag/

 

You start going to bed earlier and getting up earlier several days before your trip starts - I started well over a week ahead of time.  I didn't sleep a wink on my flight over, despite my best efforts, but I was fine until I was able to go to sleep around 10 p.m. at my destination. I got a full night's sleep and felt completely fine the next day. 

[BEAV]

We flew SFO-AMS last year, skipped the nap upon arrival at the hotel, walked around, had some dinner, then crashed around 9:00pm. We felt it was worth it to stay up and “hold out” until 9pm. Woke up next morning after a really good sleep and our body clocks were fine from that moment on. 

[SamfromOz]

On 5/1/2023 at 4:16 PM, 6rugrats said:

What flight is 23 hours?  

Sydney to London BA16 (refuelling stop in Singapore) Actually 23.30 hours.

Also QF1 (Syd to LHR)

There would be lots of others of a similar length, too. From Melbourne, Aukland etc to various points in Europe.

[GeezerCouple]

1 hour ago, SamfromOz said:

Sydney to London BA16 (refuelling stop in Singapore) Actually 23.30 hours.

Also QF1 (Syd to LHR)

There would be lots of others of a similar length, too. From Melbourne, Aukland etc to various points in Europe.

 

Is the NY (Newark) to Singapore on Singapore Airlines still the longest non-stop passenger flight?

 

GC

[ExpatBride]

Resist the desire to sleep when you get to Amsterdam. The best way to get over jet lag is to get onto local time ASAP.  Go to sleep at 8 PM if you must and sleep 12 hours, but failing to acclimate to the local time zone ASAP with have a knock-on effect. 

I used to travel between the US and Europe for work at least twice a month, and this advice from my former boss has served me well.

[Zach1213]

4 hours ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

Is the NY (Newark) to Singapore on Singapore Airlines still the longest non-stop passenger flight?

 

GC

Technically JFK-SIN is the longest than EWR-SIN by three miles. Singapore Airlines does them both; #3 and #4 on the list are both done by Qantas, and #5 by Air New Zealand. A list is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longest_flights.