Jet Lag

[PeterRS]

Melatonin. It only works for about 30% of people, but if like me it works for you, it makes adjustment much faster. I take one on the plane when I want to sleep and for the first 2-3 nights that I am in the new time zone.

I am one of the 70% for whom melatonin does absolutely nothing. Tried it half a dozen times and never felt any improvement after a long flight. Most agree that avoiding alcohol helps, but I find a little actually helps. Im a hopeless sleeper on planes and so now always have a prescription pill handy. It may only give me 4 or 5 hours of sleep,but it is better than nothing!

 

The best advice I was given is to adjust to arrival time before you get on the plane. That can screw up things like meals on board, but most plane meals are pretty inedible. So I just take with me a nice gourmet sandwich. On arrival I try to get as much natural light as possible. I find expanding time is much easier to adjust to than contracting. So if I am gaining 6 or 7 hours, I try to stay awake at least until 11:00pm and then crash. If losing that time, the adjusting before getting on the plane helps a little, but jet lag is always with me for a few days.

[gerefan]

I personally don’t believe there is such a thing as jet lag. It’s just tiredness, pure and simple.

 

Take a long haul flight ...it,goes,something like this...

Get ready to,leave home....3hours

Travel to airport...................2hours

Check in..............................3 hours

Flight boarding etc..............12 hours

Leave airport ......................1 hour

Travel to destination.............1 hour

Sort Hotel unpack, eat etc....2 hours

TOTAL .................................24 hours.

 

Way beyond any normal day ....just go and sleep as long as you can. End of problem.

[vinapu]

.just go and sleep as long as you can

that's my approach , I carry on as long as I can and when feel sleepy just collapse regardless time of day. It helps but may require repeat in next few days

[Guest]

I personally don’t believe there is such a thing as jet lag. It’s just tiredness, pure and simple.

 

I have to disagree.  

 

There also is a problem adjusting to the time difference.

 

I fly to Thailand overnight, sleeping for about 3~5 hours.     Upon arrival, I easily have enough energy for an evening out.

 

Then come 24:00, when I would like to sleep, my body is thinking it's still 17:00 and does not want to get to sleep.  If I don't take anything to assist that sleep process, I get very little sleep and then at 8:00 am, instead of wanting to get up, my body is wanting to go to sleep.     The main jet lag issue is adjusting the body clock & it is worse when flying east.

[forky123]

It always seems to me that the more people pander to jet lag, the more they are affected by it. If you just get on with things and ignore the time then it has little effect. If you try to keep the same routine as at home then I can understand that the time difference may be awkward.

[colmx]

I have never been affected by jetlag in 50+ trips to thailand

 

Granted I am only travelling from Ireland, so I don't have that 24 hour trip that US people have, but its generally 16 hours of flight including a stopover (no direct flights from Ireland to Asia - yet!)

 

I tend to take a night flight (22.30) out of Dublin on my way, arrives around 21.00 the next day

And prefer to take a night flight back also (1-2am), arriving home at 11AM same day...

 

When in Thailand I sleep at 4/5AM after disco and food and wake around 2PM for Brunch

(This is the equivalent of sleeping at 11PM and waking at 8AM Irish time)

This way my body clock never has to adjust...

 

So there is the solution to jet lag, party more and keep to your normal waking hours! 

[steveboy]

It always seems to me that the more people pander to jet lag, the more they are affected by it. If you just get on with things and ignore the time then it has little effect. If you try to keep the same routine as at home then I can understand that the time difference may be awkward.

 

I feel the same way.  The less I pay attention to the 12 hours difference between BKK and the US the less I'm aware of jet lag.

[anddy]

I believe melatonin is available over the counter in the US, but is by prescription only in Europe.   Has anyone had success buying melatonin in Bangkok ?

I have now seen Melatonin being freely sold here in BKK. Saw it in the counter of one of the stalls selling cosmetics and supplements in MBK (second or third floor, can't remember). Now I wouldn't necessarily buy it from such a stall in MBK, but it suggests that it is available.

 

[...] since I'm not going to get off the 6:20 am flight, get home, freshen up & go straight to work the same day.  

That's what I always did when I was working! Saving precious holiday time. Requires maximum sleep on the plane, and of course will not be the best day in the office, but that hardly matters as the first day mostly consisted of sifting through hundreds or thousands of emails to see if there were any important ones. That can be done in a drowsy state of mind lol

[vinapu]

 

 

That's what I always did when I was working!.... day mostly consisted of sifting through hundreds or thousands of emails to see if there were any important ones. 

that's an impression i often have and not only on first day after vacations, we don't work anymore , we just shift through hundreds of e-mails to fish relevan ones . So you did not miss anything anddy 

[faranglaw]

A few thoughts here:

 

1. Jet lag is absolutely real, with a great deal of science backing it up.

2. I didn't know melatonin only works for 30% of us. Lucky me. If I have to put up with being one of the 10-15% for whom cilantro tastes like soap, and even the smell of it is vile, at least there is some compensation. A pharmacist friend of mine said that the 10mg melatonin pills are way overkill. 3mg is enough, and he even recommended cutting those in half.

3. DH and I Fly on Korean from Vancouver. Jet lag definitely worse coming home. Sometimes our flight has a long layover in Seoul, and they will give us time at a hotel, which is a terrific help. You have to go through immigration, but at Incheon that takes about five minutes. Alternatively, they might let you use their lounge. Or you can use the wonderful Korean style (not explicitly gay, but...) sauna at Incheon. You can stay there overnight for about US $30. You might even get lucky there if you're not too tired from all the excitement in LOS. In any case, we now try to schedule that long layover deliberately, to break up the two long flights.

4. One of the advantages comng from Europe is shorter flight times, and sometimes direct flights, I believe. From Vancouver we have to change flights, and I think that makes quite a difference.

5. We used to fly home on a flight that arrived at 6:30pm, early morning in Asia. I found that schedule disastrous for jet lag, as I was wide awake and ready to start a new day just as it was getting dark. Now we try to arrive home in the morning.

6. Sleeping on the plane is much easier if you bring along good quality earplugs and an eye mask.

7. Nothing works perfectly for everyone.

 

Cheers....