Berlin

I do around 200k miles per year.

This is what keeps me from terrible jetlag.

1. Change clocks to destination as soon as plane takes off.
2. Do not sleep until roughly about 10 hours before you are to land. About 1.5hrs until landing you will get your last meal / be woken so keep that in mind.
3. I use Temazepam on the crazy sectors when needing sleep.
4. Hydration is key. Avoid any alcohol or coffee and I also have a supply of hydralyte in my carry on.
5. On landing adapt to the time zone, if it’s daytime you are awake for the day (or as long as humanly possible) and if it’s nighttime you should be super tired and not have slept on the flight so you can jump straight into bed.

I’ve flown from South Africa (+2 gmt) to Asia (+9 gmt) and back probably about 10 times… I cannot sleep on planes at all. My flights in Asia tend to arrive at around 5pm their time… First night I’d usually fall asleep quite late (although I’m in bed at like 9pm) due to the jet lag, but I force myself to wake up at like 6am, have a strong cup of coffee and go through the day without sleeping at all. Usually at 9pm I’m dead and will pass out. Next morning I wake up early again.

A very good strategies summary about ovoiding jetlag/flight related stresses: https://twitter.com/flowen_nl/status/1068760499733651456?s=19

The fasting advice (backed by research) was an awesome find which I’ll try applying during next flight.

I travel a lot for work. I find that if I focus on arriving in the morning and I power through the first day till about 9pm and crash, I get over jetlag pretty easily.

Also, don’t drink alcohol on the plane, stick to water and try not drinking for the first few days you are there.

That helps me.

Recently was dealing with jet lag for the first time, it just sucks. I think there is some articles online suggesting some things to get over it faster, but as far as I remember it’s just basic stuff and probably won’t help that much (like drink water, etc). I think it’s just something you have to suck up and wait it over.

One thing that could help is Melatonin (sleeping pills could probably also work but they don’t work on me, I would rather use something natural) to put yourself to sleep closer to your schedule in the new timezone. There is also book “Power of when” which I think gives some suggestions on how to make let lag easier to deal with, you might want to check it out.

Good points here, thanks @urbanfruitbat !

I definitely made some mistakes along with the already ridiculous flight/travel plans we had.

Appreciate the insights!

I just got back to the USA from Malaysia and Thailand, but I made sure up stop in between for a week, in Denmark. Two minor moves is better than one huge move, in my experience.

Coffee in the morning is ok. But to stay awake, never.

To be a little clearer, if you can arrive at about 7pm at night and by the time you arrive in your hotel room you can go right to sleep at 9, that is the absolute best. When I say day flight, I mean you fly during the day not arrive during the day.

I can’t sleep on planes so I avoid the red eye if at all possible. I am even in Business Class most of the time and I still can’t sleep.

@mhclapperton I messed up by having coffee and I wish we would have got more electrolytes for the flight and first few days.

Great tips - thanks for this! Will keep in mind for the next stint through time