How do you deal with jet lag?
Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 9:19 pm
I don't have problems with jet lag. Here's my secret:How do you deal with jet lag, do you give yourself the time to adjust when traveling or are you just so traveled that you are accustomed to it or don't notice?
The moment I board the plane I adjust my watch to my destination's time. I behave accordingly. So if it's 4pm there, I stay awake (even if it's midnight in my local time). I force myself to fit the schedule.
If it's a huge time difference, then the night before I try to pull an all-nighter. That usually completely screws up my clock, which is exactly what I need, since in this case two wrongs do make a right!
Studies show that human's natural clock is about 25 hours/day. That's why on weekends (when our lives have less structure) we tend to go to bed later each night and on Monday, we're all screwed up again.
Use this to your advantage: if you arrive at your destination in the afternoon and you're super tired, don't take a nap. Tough it out until 6-8pm and then go to bed. Yes, it's very early, but if you're completely exhausted, you'll sleep for 10-12 hours. You'll wake up the next day between 3-6am, which may be a bit early, but your natural clock will encourage you to go to bed an hour later each night.
In short, if you use these techniques, you may experience what I do: that it takes less than 24 hours to adjust to any time zone in the world. Yes, even the 12 hour time changes!
