Let’s face it, nothing is worse than finally have the opportunity to go on your dream trip and when arrive you feel terrible for the next few days. Many of us, don’t have a lot of time. Maybe one or two weeks to travel and by the time your body gets used to the new time zone, chances are you have to head home and start the whole process of acclimating again.
There is nothing you can do to perfectly beat jetlag, but there are few strategies to make things much more bearable so you can get the most out of your vacation. And don’t forget, for the vast majority of human history, most people stayed within a twenty-five-mile radius of where they were born.
We weren’t designed to be hurtled across hemispheres so at worst take your suffering with the grain of salt that you’ve been given the opportunity to do something 99.9% of humanity was never able to do.
Start Preparing Early
If you are travelling across one time zone, you shouldn’t even be reading this. You don’t have jetlag. This is for those of us who the really tricky adjustment of four or more hours.
As the days lead up to your trip, start moving your schedule to more naturally match the time where you are travelling. This will depend on the direction you are going but start going to bed later, waking up earlier or some combination of the two. You may have to suffer through a little tiredness during those last few days before your trip, but you’ll be happy for it later.
The Power Move
This is not for the faint of heart, but if you have one of those massive time changes of over eight hours then nothing beats staying up the entire night before your flight. You will be exhausted, but you can sleep on the plane and this very quickly speed up the process of adjustment.
Sleep on the Plane?
As soon as you board your flight, you should set your watch and your phone (you’ll have to do this manually) to your new time zone. It’s common sense, but if it is sleeping time there, then sleep. If you have pulled the power move and stayed up all night, chances are it may be night time there. Use this as an opportunity to get that needed rest.
The harder part will actually be making yourself get up. If you are snoozing the first five hours of your flight, and see your new time zone is saying it’s 10:00 am, it’s time to get up. This is not going to be fun particularly if the entire plane is darkened and everyone around you is sleeping. Push through this! Ring the flight attendant for a cup of coffee, do a little stretch and put on a movie or something.
Sun, Sun and Sun
Like every other creature on Ea