How to prevent/get over Jet Lag?
Most people start feeling a little off after long flights (especially overnight, international flights). You can be a bit exhausted and cranky. As a traveler, you can’t enjoy your trip unless you have that zest and energy for exploring. However, jet lag can take away all the fun and although it is temporary, it results in annoyance and frustration.
Why does jet lag occur? Here is a brief explanation - our body has a natural 24-hour cycle according to which our body hormones and temperature is regulated. It is our internal clock that is running us, and it is linked to the exposure of light. If the natural body cycle is disturbed, you suffer from jet lag.
If you are one of the unlucky that experience jet lag (like me) and you want to prevent it, here are some tips and tricks to help you out:
Take Melatonin Supplements
Usually, jet lag results in sleep disorder. Hence, you can take melatonin supplements. What is melatonin? It is a hormone that is produced naturally by your brain but only released in darkness. Because of the specific hormone, sleep, and nighttime behaviors are induced in human beings. However, one needs to take it with proper planning for helping with the jet lag. Usually, people take 0.5 mg of the dose nearly 13 hours before they want to wake up.
Schedule Flights Smartly
One of the essential factors that could help you prevent jet lag is to schedule flights smartly. You may try to schedule your flight in such a way that the local time of the destination is actually closer to the time when you usually wake up in your regular routine. As a result, your time of arrival is such that it minimizes jet lag.
Your body’s internal clock can be thrown off if you don’t time enough time to adjust properly at a particular place. Hence, if possible, you could go for non-stop flights or ones which have an only bare minimum time for changing planes.
Sleep During Your Flight
Although in ideal cases, you must plan in such a way that your plane arrives at your destination in the morning for preventing jet lag. However, sometimes it is not possible. Therefore, whether you are traveling during day or night, try to sleep during your flight. Try packing a sleep mask and earplugs in your carry on – even if you are not feeling ready for a nap, they will surely assist you in falling asleep.
Avoid Caffeinated Beverages During the Flight
We all know caffeine can take away sleep. So, it is better to avoid such beverages and stick to water instead. And yes, that means staying away from alcohol as well. As we all know, alcohol causes dehydration. Dehydration is a main factor in jet lag.
Stay Active After your Arrival at the Destination
If you are going to reach your destination during the daytime, it is wise to be active and move around. It will help your body’s clock to adjust to the bright light. Another thing that can help you is to try eating something within a few hours of your arrival – it also helps the body to fend off jet lag.
Do you have any tried and tested tips to help prevent/get over jet lag? If so, please share them with us! I am always looking for new tricks to try!
And when you’re ready to start planning your next trip with a long haul flight (or even a shorter flight), reach out to me. Let’s talk. Let’s beat the jet lag monster together.