Beating jet-lag like a champion
Jet lag just comes with the territory of travelling long-haul. Unfortunately it's almost unavoidable but new research is showing how to lessen the lag the next time you jet. The general rule is that it takes 1 day to adjust to each time zone crossed. So if you're travelling from London to Toronto, you can count on it taking 5-6 days to fully adjust but the severity of jet lag can be so different for every travellers and depends on the direction travelled.
Travelling west seems to be easier than travelling east, for example. So how can you lessen the effects of jet lag?
It seems a combination of the tried and tested solutions is the most effective way to fight jet lag. It takes a slow adjustment of your sleep schedule before your trip, taking melatonin and seeking out bright light at certain times of the day to trigger your "master" clock and forcing yourself to eat and sleep at the right times as soon as you arrive.
Top tips to follow:
- If travelling east, seek out afternoon light while travellers heading west should seek out morning light.
- In order to get the most sleep at night, avoid morning list if travelling east and avoid afternoon light if travelling west.
- Melatonin in small doses at the local bedtime will help your body clock reset. A doctor should be consulted however before taking.
- On short trips it's probably not worth the effort but on longer trips, setting a new sleep schedule 5 days before your trip will do wonders. Adjust your sleep and wake up schedule by 1 hour every day.
If all else fails, you can always resort to the old methods used by thousands of travellers around the world: sleeping pill before bed and coffee, after coffee the following day till you're all set.
How do you fight jet lag?
Image: Katelyn Fay / Flickr cc.