What's it like to have jet lag?

Jason

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Actually, it was Albany NY, and I took nothing...
 

neandermagnon

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Thank you everyone for your replies... very very helpful :e2cheer::hi::TheWave:
 

Bolero

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There are modern tablets to take that are supposed to sort it. Can't remember the name. Was talking to someone who travels regularly from UK to NZ, about the one time I did that journey and how badly I was hit - took about a week to sort out my sleep problems both on the way out (was there for two weeks) and when I came home again. Would pass out at about 4pm for the first couple of days. Forget staying awake, it wasn't happening and at 4am, forget going to sleep, I was up and motoring. Anyway, had a grumble about that to regular traveller who looked at me as though I was bonkers and said should take whatever the name of the tablets were, works perfectly for them. Can't remember the name of the tablets though - specifically for jetlag.

Having done google search suspect it was the melatonin tablets.

My jet lag falling asleep was literally falling forwards when sitting down - so in car, head gets heavy, drops forwards, eyelids close, no chance of keeping them open, and blackness. (Which was rather irritating to my hosts, as they were specially driving the long, scenic route back from the airport and I slept through it.) :)
 
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Jason

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Melatonin works wonders for jetlag but there are other things that can decrease its effectiveness - I know I'd mentioned this already, but there's some other factors that can also mitigate the effectiveness, so here's my full list of details:


  • Take 30 minutes before you want to fall asleep
  • Do not use your devices (android, iphone, ipad, ipod, tablet, laptop, even Kindle's!)
  • Aid things by taking a hot shower before crawling into bed
  • try to shut out any light with blinds or eye covers
  • Also try ear plugs to deaden any exterior noise
  • No caffeine for the 5 hours prior (coffee, tea, etc.)
  • Drink a shot of single malt scotch (personal preference revealed here lol :) )
 

Bufty

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Agree with shizu. West to East is worst. My experience was Caribbean to UK and vice-versa. Economy or First Class, and consumption of alcohol also factor in.
 

Chris P

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I live in the DC area and go to East Africa for work regularly. Greetings from Ethiopia, by the way :)

Everyone is different, but for me it's always much worse going to Africa than coming back. For the first week in Africa, every time without fail, I wake up at 2:30 in the morning wide awake and starving. That's odd because that's it's like 7:30 back home and not my regular meal time. I hit a mental fog wall about 1 pm Africa time, which is odd because that's when I usually am getting to work and am fairly alert. My meal times sort out within a day (except for the 2:30 am bit) but my sleeping takes a full week. My one trip to Asia was kind of like that in reverse, waking up at 2:30 am DC time after I got back.
 

neandermagnon

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Thanks again all :)

My jet lag falling asleep was literally falling forwards when sitting down - so in car, head gets heavy, drops forwards, eyelids close, no chance of keeping them open, and blackness. (Which was rather irritating to my hosts, as they were specially driving the long, scenic route back from the airport and I slept through it.) :)

When I first read that I thought you were driving the car...! Glad I got to the bit where the hosts were driving!
 

Atlantic12

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Just wanted to chime in as someone else who flies long haul pretty regularly.

You can get used to the time change and develop your own tricks to minimize jet lag. So a lot will depend on how experienced your MC is with this kind of flying. I barely get it anymore in either direction. I'm tired for a day or so, but just traveling will do that to you.

My last long haul was W. Europe to Japan, had almost no jet lag when I got there, and flying east is usually the problem direction. My trick is always setting my watch to the time at my destination right when I get on the plane. When they're serving dinner, I'm thinking about what time it is in Tokyo (or wherever) and eat accordingly, maybe only lightly because it's the middle of the night where I'm going. For me regulating time to meals is a biggie. I also definitely try to sleep when flying east, even if I only manage a couple hours. Flying west, I stay up the whole time. If I know it's going to be a 35-hour day or whatever, then ok. You can mentally prepare for that.

I've flown transatlantic with my kids, both when babies, and that was another can of worms. When I flew Europe to USA with my 10-month old, I had the worst jet lag ever because she *never did the time change* for our entire 8-day stay. So I didn't either. Ugh. Don't fly with babies. ;)
 

Hunt & Peck

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For whatever reason I always get jet lag flying east, but not west. For example...U.S. to Europe...jet lag. Europe to U.S....no problem.

I used to live in Thailand...met and married my wife there and our son was born there. We moved to the U.S. when our son was about 18 months old and OMG what a nightmare. I think he slept 10 minutes the entire trip. It was hell. He's 6 now and our second son is 7 months. We'll not take him to Thailand for many years to avoid the nightmare we already went through once.
 

DanielSTJ

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I went to Japan.

My whole body was out of tune. I felt tired, but I found it hard to sleep. I was not sharp nor focused. I was very "off."

Just my input!