Learn how to keep away from jet lag: Tips for staying alert while you journey

Adapted from 
Boosting Your Energy
, Medical Editor: Anthony L. Komaroff, MD, Simcox-Clifford-Higby Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Senior Physician, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston.

If you journey throughout time zones, you’ve seemingly skilled jet lag. It’s that drained, groggy, out-of-sync feeling you get when your inside clock is thrown off.

On journeys throughout only one or two time zones, many individuals might be able to get up, eat, and sleep with out a lot hassle.

However, on longer journeys while you journey farther and throughout extra time zones, it may be a lot tougher to regulate. Luckily, there are methods you need to use earlier than, throughout, and after your journey to forestall jet lag and assist your physique adapt to your new time zone.

Tips for stopping jet lag

Before your journey

Start to shift your schedule earlier than you jet off. For a number of days earlier than you allow, transfer mealtimes and bedtime incrementally nearer to the schedule of your vacation spot. Even a partial swap could assist (see “A sleep schedule to beat jet lag” beneath).

During your flight

Stay hydrated throughout your flight by consuming loads of fluids. Avoid caffeine or alcohol, as they promote dehydration, which worsens the bodily signs of jet lag and may disturb sleep.

After you arrive

Switch your bedtime as quickly as doable upon arrival. Don’t flip in till it’s bedtime within the new time zone.

Use daylight strategically to assist your physique regulate. After eastward journey, morning daylight will help you wake earlier. After westward journey, late-afternoon daylight will help you shift to a later schedule.

A sleep schedule to beat jet lag

If you’ll be touring by means of a number of time zones, as when flying coast to coast, you’ll be able to step by step regulate your sleep time. For instance:

• Three days earlier than you intend to journey from the West Coast to the East Coast, go to mattress half an hour sooner than traditional, and rise up half an hour earlier the following morning.
• The subsequent evening, go to mattress an hour sooner than traditional and rise up an hour earlier.
• The day earlier than you journey, go to mattress 90 minutes sooner than your traditional bedtime.

Here’s an instance schedule of how one can assist reset your inside clock while you journey by means of time zones:

Day-by-day bedtime adjustment instance

• Day 1: Usual bedtime: 10:00 p.m.
• Day 2: 9:30 p.m.
• Day 3: 9:00 p.m.
• Day 4: 8:30 p.m.

If you observe this schedule, by the fourth day — the day of your journey — you’ll discover it simpler to regulate to your new time zone and can really feel extra energized throughout your journey.