Travel Series: How to Prevent Jet Lag

Jet lag (n): a feeling of consuming exhaustion experienced when traveling across time zones

Jet lag; no one really plans for it, but almost everyone who travels has experienced it.

Jet lag hits everyone differently. Depending how many time zones you've crossed some common symptoms are not being able to stay awake in the day time, not sleeping at night, headaches, stuffy nose, digestion problems and the feeling of being "out of it". It cuts into your plans, makes you loopy, and affects your work.

And it's almost completely preventable!

From my many years of back-and-forth world hopping I've figured out an ingenious, simple way to arrive at my destination reset to the new time zone and ready to hit the road running.

Hydrate

Your body gets very dehydrated during flights. The best way to prevent this is to make sure you've had plenty of water leading up to the trip and to have a travel water bottle with you on the flight.

Many of us don't drink enough water to begin with, so at least a week leading up to the trip start being mindful about getting your 8 glasses of water a day. This will also help regulate your digestion which gets affected by jet lag as well.

Fun fact: Airplanes are drier than a desert. When you experiences headaches, nausea and cramps on a flight the most likely culprit is dehydration. Pack an empty reusable water bottle (I prefer a stainless steel water bottle, but you could also get a collapsible water bottle if you're short on space) into your carry on and fill it once you get through security. During the flight, drink 1 glass of water for every hour you are in the air.

Power smoothie

Airplanes are places where bacteria and viruses thrive. Small nooks and crannies that rarely get cleaned along with people coughing and sneezing in close proximity to you are sure-fire ways to catch something, especially if your immune system is already weakened by allergies or stress.

You can protect your immune system by having a power smoothie before you fly. Any type of berries, avocado, leafy greens, lemon, seeds, coconut water, and a plant based protein are all great ways to boost your immune system.-

Caffeine & alcohol

The effects of alcohol are felt more when you're 10,000 ft. in the air and cause headaches and grogginess.

The effects of caffeine will mess with your ability to reset yourself to a new time zone.

Avoid both, especially on the flight. Tea and coffee is usually made with water from the plane's water tank and in most cases the flight attendants won't even drink it (since the tank rarely gets cleaned).

If you're boarding a 10pm flight and it's 4pm at your destination, a coffee at the airport before you board can be a great way to give your body a little boost to stay awake for the next few hours.

Light

Light is one of the most important tools you can use to reset your body. This doesn't only mean sunlight either, your phone, laptop, cabin lights and seat-display all affect what time your body thinks it is.

The presence of light causes your body to think it's daytime and prevents you from getting a good night's sleep by affecting melatonin production, a hormone your body needs for recovery sleep.

Blue-light blocking glasses and a sleeping mask are always in my carry-on. These little tools give me power over my own biology to control what time zone I need my body to be in and allows me to function at my optimal.

What's the time at your destination?

Google "current time in x" and figure out the time difference between where you are and where you are going. The further you're flying, the bigger the time difference, the more difficult it is for your body to adapt.

In general if you do no prep for your flight, your body adjusts at the rate of 1-2 time zones per day. You can significantly speed this process up by doing some basic math and playing with your sleep schedule before the trip.

Here's an example:

You live in NYC and are flying to Paris.

When you Google the two destinations, the difference is 6 hours. So when it is 12pm in New York, it's 6pm in Paris, when it's 10pm in New York, it's 4am in Paris. A couple of days before the trip have an earlier bedtime, even by 30 minutes to an hour. The goal is that you want to reset yourself for a Paris bedtime while still in your current destination.

The other option is playing with exhaustion. Here's a different example.

You live in NYC and are flying to Sydney.

The time difference is 14 hours. When it's 8am in New York, it's 10pm in Sydney, when it's 12pm in New York, it's 2am in Sydney. The moment you get on the flight, set your phone and watch to the local time of your destination and follow that schedule during your entire flight.

If you board the plane at 12pm New York time and it's 2am Sydney time, put on an eye mask and take as long of a forced nap as possible. If you wake up 2 hours later (now 4am in Sydney), put your eye mask back on, maybe some white noise music on your headphones and just relax. The idea is you force your body to be on another time zone instead of listening to whether your body is tired/hungry/awake. When it hits 6am Sydney time now is your chance for a movie marathon, snacks, and drinks. By the time you land in Australia (it's a long flight so you may even need to have 2 forced bedtimes) your body will be both exhausted from fighting with your "natural rhythm" and confused about what time it actually is, making it your perfect chance to jump into the day or into bed.

You can do one of these or you could do all of them, no matter which you choose I guarantee you will arrive at your destination ready to conquer the day.

Are there any other tips I could try on my next adventure that I missed here?

Happy travels!