Despite the multitude of innovations within the airline industry in the last few decades, there remains one problem that nobody has yet figured out the answer to and that is the dreaded matter of jetlag. Without doubt the enemy of cross continental travel, jetlag creeps up on it’s victims promising to turn the first days in any new time zone into a battle between their bodies and sleep. If you have not yet experienced jetlag and are about to head off to the other side of the world, you will soon be all too aware of just what it is that everyone is always moaning about.
The good news however is that although it is impossible to completely avoid jetlag, there are a number of ways that you can limit it’s severity.
What is Jetlag?
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| Jetlag – What is it and How to Deal With it |
While there are many fancy explanations out there for just what jetlag is and what causes it, the basic problem is that your body has grown rather accustomed to the sun setting every evening and it takes that cue as it being time for you to go to sleep. When you cross multiple time zones however, your body is rather shocked to find that it is incredibly sunny in the middle of the “night” and said shock and confusion results in a number of unwanted and vacation destroying symptoms.
What are the Symptoms of Jetlag?
The primary symptom of jetlag is of course the fact that you cannot sleep when you want to while those times that you actually want to stay awake, you just want to go to sleep. As you can imagine, such disturbed sleeping patterns can take the fun out of almost any trip with the resulting lack of sleep leading to confusion, disorientation and general grogginess. Insomnia is not however the only symptom as headaches, constipation and even mild depression are also common.
How to Reduce Jetlag
While there is sadly no magic pill that you can take to arrive feeling shiny and jetlag free, there are a number of things that you can do both before and during your incredibly long plane ride to help alleviate as much of the problem as possible.
Avoid Caffeine and Alcohol – One of the most effective ways to limit the intensity of jet lag symptoms is to carefully monitor what you eat and drink. Many long haul passengers try to help their body to stay awake through the use of coffee or on other occasions to do the opposite through the use of alcohol. Both substances however will actually make your symptoms significantly worse. This is because while caffeine will indeed help you stay awake, it will also make it more difficult for you to sleep once you are actually supposed to. And while alcohol will help you to sleep, it will also dehydrate you resulting in your jetlag symptoms getting even worse.
Consider Sleeping Pills (Carefully) – While sleeping pills have been known to help with the symptoms of jetlag, it is important to be very careful with the dosage and to choose a pill with a short cycle. This is because while sleeping pills can dampen jetlag symptoms by enabling you to sleep, they can also greatly increase grogginess when you do land. It is also worth noting that the effects of sleeping pills can be quite unpredictable and the time to experiment with new medications is certainly not on a long haul flight. It is also worth noting that coming off of a long plane ride and attempting to get past immigration officers while half asleep is not exactly fun.
Prepare for the Change – The primary cause of the severity of jetlag symptoms is the sudden shock to your system that a change in time zone causes. The abruptness of the routine change and therefore the jetlag symptoms experienced can be reduced by slowly changing your routine in the days leading up to your flight. This of course does not mean that you need to start sleeping all day but rather that getting up a few hours earlier or later each day can help to ease your body into the upcoming transition.
Drink Plenty of Water – As I mentioned above with regards to alcohol, one of the worst things that you can do to your body when it comes to jetlag is to become dehydrated. Unfortunately, spending ten hours cooped up in a plane tends to do exactly that. You can minimize how dehydrated you become however by drinking as much water as possible during your flight. It is recommended to drink at least eight ounces of water per hour to avoid dehydration while flying. It is also worth noting that just because you are not thirsty, this certainly does not necessarily mean that you are not dehydrated.
Sleep on the Plane – Of course this is significantly easier to write in an article than it is to actually do but the more sleep that you can get onboard, the easier your arrival will be. While this is of course especially true for those who will be arriving at their destination in the morning, regardless of what time you arrive, the more rested you are, the less havoc jetlag will play on your senses. Therefore if you think that there is any possibility of you getting a few winks during your journey, don’t hesitate to shut down. I find that earplugs are invaluable when it comes to getting a few winks onboard a plane.
But Don’t Sleep When You Arrive
Finally, when you arrive at your destination, it is essential that you stay awake until eleven that night. This can at times be pretty difficult to do and unfortunately your interaction with immigration officials and jackal like airport taxi drivers really doesn’t help. But if you even take a short nap during day time hours, you will almost definitely fall into a deep sleep and find yourself waking up at midnight looking for your breakfast.