Cure for Jet Lag?

[radwhacker 0]

I thought this was interesting. It makes sense that light rhythms affect jet lag:

 

http://www.gadling.com/2006/04/15/a-cure-for-jet-lag

Edited April 20, 2006 by radwhacker

[Matte 0]

I thought this was interesting. It makes sense that light rhythms affect jet lag:

 

http://www.gadling.com/2006/04/15/a-cure-for-jet-lag

If you live in northern Sweden it makes no sense what so ever. 24/7 of light during the summer and vice versa during the winter should give us a constant jet lag then.

But then again - some say we act strange sometimes...

[nico 0]

I have found that drinking lots of water on the plane, and having no alcohol, reduces jet-lag. I also never watch the movie on the airplane; I use the time to close my eyes and think pleasant thoughts. It works for me.

[pilotman 3]

Coming from the UK I just stick to UK time until my body adjusts naturally. It's no big deal if I stay in bed until 1400 and stay awake most of the night, after all, that's why I am in LOS in the frist place!

[EDP 0]

With the excitement of ariving in LOS etc Good luck on fighting the jet lag for long. Shit your running a mile a minuete anyways and it will catch up to ya :-)

[Montydog 135]

I find that setting my watch to local time as soon as the plane takes off from LHR and trying to act on that timing for eating, sleeping etc works for me. Also as I work shifts and odd hours my body clock is buggered anyway and can adapt quite quickly.

[galt67 2]

I've used the diet recommended here to beat jetlag--

 

http://www.antijetlagdiet.com/

 

Works pretty well but NO alcohol the few days prior to flying!

[dotcom_OD 0]

Nico is correct. Do not drink alcohol on the flight to BKK. Also keep rehydrated by drinking lots of liquid.

 

One other observation I have is I prefer taking flights that arrive in the morning over flights that arrive late at night or like 2:00 A.M. Just my own experiences that work.

[Eneukman 1]

I haven't suffered seriously from jet lag on many flights to S E ASia. I have a glass of wine and a vodka on the flight as well as drinking plenty of soft drinks. I try to switch to the local time immediately and set a pattern of going to bed at a reasonable hour and getting up at a reasonable hour in the morning.

 

Also, when I got back to the UK, (in the early hours of the morning), I would stay awake for as long as possible and go to bed as close to my normal bedtime as possible. Doing that meant that by morning, I was more or less back onto UK time.

 

Alan

[upena 2]

A cold Singha and a hot Bar Girl will cure just about everything

[BillWilson 10]

I have used a pill called "No Jet Lag" for years

it is a homeipathic roots and berries deal from down under

 

available in stores and net

 

results:

1) I dont get get lag myself

or

2) they work

 

ya eat one at take off, one every 2 hours, chewed, ok to sleep and chew one when you wake up

 

i drink lots of water on the flight, take a walking lap around the plane every hour or so, stretch by the back on each walk, no alcohol

 

20+ trips to LOS from LAX, each 20+ hours travel time door to door

 

Arriving to LOS, and the trip .... no problem with jet lag

 

Arriving to LAX (los angeles) sleep early the first day, short work days (@ 5 hours) for the first week, other than post LOS blues and a larger phone bill, all ok

[Big Chief 0]

Big bird lag in pale face mind. Big Chief no think big bird lag exist. Drink cold Elephant beer, 3 big brown bottle. Always make Big Chief smile and feel happy like dancing wolf. Cold Elephant beer and squaw smoking peace pipe until happy love water come out, pale face do this and no have problem big bird lag.

[poskat 0]

I agree with dotcom that a morning/afternoon arrival is key. I don't sleep much on the long flights and flying with EVA or Cathay Pacific, I have arrived at around noon. I stay up nailing a few girls until about 1AM and then sleep. I find i go right on Thai time that way.

 

Getting in at 1AM and then on the street by 2AM or later with the subsequent partying and screwing and finally crashing at 5-6AM is just begging to have your inner clock screwed up for days.

[Owen` 2]

This topic comes up now and then. A synopsis:

 

1) Our UK cousins have a shorter trip. Most of these jetlag threads talking about

how difficult it is are from Americans. The UK guys can't figure out why the complaints. The answer is a typical trip from the US west coast (California, meaning Los Angeles) is 20+ hours counting the stop in Tokyo or Taiwan. For guys arriving from points in the US east of California, add hours for them to get to the west coast jump off point. The east coast of the US is 12 hrs time zone difference. 25 hour trips are not unheard of door to door. Toss a few flight delays in and it can become agony.

 

There are a handful of non stops from the US east coast. They are expensive.

 

2) The body's clock is controlled by sunlight exposure. The most critical part of the recovery process is what hours of the day your eyes see bright light. What time you arrive matters, and staying awake or going to sleep in such a way to get exposed to light at the proper time is the best thing you can do to accelerate adjustment. This Is The Most Critical Thing. All studies show it is usually more difficult for a given person to shift time zones in one direction vs the other. So if it seems to be harder for you to either go or return from somewhere than vice versa, that's normal. Note that it is important what time you arrive where in the context of when you see bright light, but studies show that the since the decisive item is when you see bright light, the most important factor on how fast you adjust is simply what the weather is at your destination. If it's cloudy, you can be miserable for weeks unless you purposely find brightly lit rooms to sit in during the local day -- and not do the same at night.

 

3) Staying hydrated, eating properly, exercise . . . all the usual stuff is not worthless. It helps. But the key is light.

[Owen` 2]

I stand corrected. Samsonite is correct, given the extra hours enroute to Pattaya. I was calibrating time to BKK (or SIN, where I sometimes stop first). 26 hrs is just brutal. If you're not in business class, sleep is almost impossible. Do what you can to lessen the jetlag.

 

One of the reasons I stop in SIN is they have a transit hotel on the gate side of security. $35 will get you a shower and 6 hrs of sleep. Then a quick low cost carrier hop to BKK follows and I arrive in BKK with a few hours sleep and in broad daylight for the ride to Pattaya. Also, I've found flights from US to SIN are cheaper than to BKK. The LCC price tossed in doesn't make up the differential, even with the $35 for hotel. It probably varies by season, but the SIN approach, I've found, is both cheaper and easier on the body.

[hillbilly 81]

best cure i find for jetlag is to sleep when tired, works for me

[andyagain 0]

I'm inn the dehydration school of thought - which implies not drinking alcohol or coffee on the plane - but I find a few gins helps me sleep on the plane. If possible a little nap for an hour or two tends to help, and as son as I can on landing I drink a couple of sport drinks or gatorade.But I think a really good trick is to go to your friendly thai pharmacist and get some elctrolyte powder and have one of them - strong K is definitely the best but olympic runs it pretty close. Whilst you are at it I'd stock up on these because believe me these are also really good hangover cures.