Anyone that’s ever experienced it knows that jet lag is such a drag. It occurs when you travel quickly across time zones and your body’s natural rhythm gets thrown out of sync. While it usually only lasts a day or so, it can really put a damper on your travels – especially if you’re trying to enjoy a relaxing vacation or taking an important business-related trip.
Give it enough time and your body will naturally adjust to it’s new time zone, but to hasten the process, there are a few things you can try to get yourself to adjust to a new schedule more quickly and with far fewer jet lag symptoms.
Join us as we discuss a few simple techniques and tips that will help you get over that nasty jet lag hump with a quickness.
Viewcation Presents: How to Get Over Jet Lag IMMEDIATELY
Is Jet Lag Even Real?
Some of you who have never experienced jet lag before might be thinking that some people are merely exaggerating their jet lag symptoms. A few might even be questioning whether or not the condition is even legit in the first place.
First things first, let’s just clear things up once and for all.
Yes, jet lag is real! It happens when you’re usual circadian rhythm gets thrown for a loop when you travel to a new time zone. While crossing one or two time zones might result in little to no symptoms, if you’re traveling somewhere halfway around the globe, you’re certain to feel a little off while getting used to your new locale.
Your circadian rhythm is like your body’s natural internal clock. Your body uses this rhythm to regulate your sleep and wake times. If your internal clock gets jostled by switching time zones quickly and experiencing drastic changes to the amount of light you are exposed to at various hours of the day, you might also experience changes to your body temperate, mood, and hormones.
Symptoms of jet lag can include fatigue, insomnia, headache, difficulty concentrating, ‘brain fog’, gastrointestinal distress, and lack of appetite. Jet lag is also known to always be worse when you travel west to east.
Additionally, you may be more susceptible to jet lag if you’re older or travel frequently.
Adapting Quickly To Your New Time Zone
When you’re plane touches down, and you arrive at your destination, try your best to forget your old time zone as fast as possible. You’re devices such as your phone, tablet, or laptop will usually auto-update their clocks, but if for some reason you have that feature turned off, you may need to set the new time manually.
One thing you can do to adapt to your new time zone quicker is set the time on your devices to the new time zone as soon as you depart. That will give you a bit longer to adjust to the change and start mentally preparing yourself for the switch-up.
You’ll likely have trouble at your destination if you keep sleeping and eating according to the schedule you maintained in your old time zone. To circumvent this, eat meals and retire to bed according to the time in your new time zone.
Managing Sleep Is Key!
While flying to your destination, your flight may very well still be in the air during your destination’s night. If you try to get a few hours of shut-eye on your flight, you’ll find that it’s much easier to transition to the new time.
A few things that could help you get some sleep on your plane include white noise generators or apps, noise-canceling headphones, eye masks, travel pillows, ear plugs, blankets, or over-the-counter sleep aids.
When you arrive, if it’s daytime, you should fight the urge to take a nap. If you touchdown during the day, check into your hotel, and immediately hit the hay, this will only make it that much more difficult to sleep later on when the sun sets.
Drink Plenty Of Water
Long-distance flights often cause dehydration. Frequently travelers reduce their water consumption so that they can avoid awkward trips to those tiny little onboard bathrooms. While this might seem like a good idea in the short term, you really should reconsider this choice. Being properly hydrated may help ease travel fatigue and jet lag symptoms.
When passing through airport security, bring an empty bottle of water. Once you’ve made it to the terminal, fill it up and start sipping. Alternatively, you can buy water in the terminal or request it from your attendant in-flight. Just remember to keep drinking plenty of water upon arrival. Really, you should always be drinking lots of water, but this goes double when you’re traveling.
Light Is Your Friend
Jet lag symptoms occur largely because your exposure to sunlight changes when you travel through time zones. If you get outside and soak up some sunlight, you can wake up your body and help reduce it’s release of melatonin. When it’s dark, your body produces that hormone, and causes you to become sleepy. Essentially you can hack this process just by regulating how much light you’re exposed to.
By going outside and exposing yourself to good old-fashioned sunlight, you’ll be helping yourself if you need to wake up and function at your pique earlier when you travel eastward. By getting more light exposure in the evening hours and staying up later on the night before your flight, it’ll also be easier to transition later when you’re in your new time zone after traveling west.
Some travelers swear by using special ‘happy’ lamps that simulate sunlight. By tricking your brain into thinking that it’s experiencing sunlight, you can theoretically ween yourself into a new schedule much quicker than just allowing it to happen organically. You might find these lamps advertised online or at some speciality retailers as being designed to help combat seasonal affective disorder.
Drink A Caffeinated Beverage
While consuming coffee, tea, or an energy drink won’t cure your jet lag, it may be a useful tool to help you stay focused and alert during the daytime. In one study, it was found that 300 milligrams of extended-release caffeine enhanced alertness in travelers that were headed east.
While caffeinated beverages might give you the pep you need to keep on your toes, be aware of the other substances in those drinks, such as sugar, before drinking them.
If you choose to use caffeine as a tool to help combat the symptoms of jet lag, moderate or eliminate your intake in the afternoon and evening hours. Otherwise, you might be giving yourself a nasty cast of caffeine-induced insomnia.
Make Sure Your Sleep Space Is Cozy
One of the best ways to facilitate proper sleep in your travels is to ensure that your sleeping arrangements are comfortable.
In your room, check to make sure that the thermostat is set to a temperature that you’re used to. It’s been proven that by keeping the room cool, you’ll be more likely to fall asleep and enter a REM cycle quicker.
It’s also a good idea to put your phone on silent and make sure that no other device or clock in your room is going to beep or make noise while you’re sleeping. You can even ask the hotel front desk attendant to have any inbound calls routed to a phone service instead.
When packing, make sure that you bring all of the creature comforts that you need – within reason that is – to ensure that you’re cozy at your destination. If you sleep with a fan or white noise machine, try to find something packable that serves the same function to travel with you. There are a number of apps available that simulate various fan noises or produce a wide range of white noise frequencies.
If you think it will help you get some rest, bring other lightweight comforts such as a favorite blanket, familiar scented candle or lotion, or family photo to help you drift off.
Melatonin Helps
Your body naturally produces and releases melatonin at regular intervals synchronized to your internal clock to induce sleepiness. But for those that experience occasional insomnia or jet lag, it also comes available in pill, tablet, or gummy form as a supplement. If you’re having trouble adjusting to your new sleep schedule, consider trying 3-5 mg of melatonin to help your body get sleepy when jet-lagged.
This is not only helpful at night if your body isn’t ready for sleep, but it can also come in handy if you’ve traveled west and you’re trying to continue sleeping in the early hours of the morning.
Be advised, however, since melatonin is a supplement, it isn’t regulated by the FDA. When taking any supplement use caution and if you have any questions or concerns, consult your healthcare provider. Viewcation in no way qualified to provide medical advice.
Try Sleep Aids
Many over-the-counter sleep aids can be useful when you’re having trouble getting sleepy or staying asleep. But once again, talk to your doctor about whether sleep aids may be appropriate to use to combat your jet lag-induced symptoms. Some people who are especially affected by jet-lag-induced insomnia might even receive a prescription for a sleep aid that’s a bit stronger.
Other Treatments
Fortunately, jet lag isn’t a permanent ailment. If all of these suggestions don’t seem to be working for you, you just may need to give it time. If you’re still feeling a little impatient, however, you can always attempt to treat it with things like meditation, yoga, breathwork exercises, herbal remedies, or even hypnosis.
If your jet leg symptoms persist for more than a week, this could be a sign of another underlying condition. If you experience this, please consult your doctor as soon as possible.
Hopefully, the tips we just discussed can provide you with some relief from your jet lag. Yet again, no one thing is going to work for everyone, but generally speaking, if you do your best to approach your jet lag from all angles, you can reduce your symptoms almost immediately.
Do you have any tips or tricks to help reduce jet lag symptoms? And have you ever experienced this pesky condition in your travels before? Let us know in the comments. And as always, happy travels!