Comments on: Jet Lag Revisited

By: Lauren

Lauren — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 03:07:29 +0000

Spoken like a true New Yorker, Rocketeer. And it meshes well with my other strategy, which is to barge into an English tea shop and demand a bagel and a cup of joe then complain in a very loud voice when they try to explain why they don’t have these essentials. They love that.

By: Rocketeer

Rocketeer — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 02:03:23 +0000

My advice re frequent time zone tripping is to leave your watch set for New York time. By so doing, I am able to stay cognizant of and in tune with the rhythm of the place and lives I have left. And, by staying in tune with New York time, you are staying in tune with a universal epicenter. Indeed, even if I had to suffer through weeks in some godforsaken locale like Great Britain, France or any other place that is not New York, I would still leave my watch exactly as it was when I boarded my outbound flight at JFK.

By: Lauren

Lauren — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:03:18 +0000

My husband swears by caffeine to help get over jet lag. I remember it working pretty well, but I’m off the stuff now for different reasons.

By: Colin

Colin — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 00:09:14 +0000

That’s good advice indeed. I had always been too busy to really conciously heed it until my my most recent trip to Tokyo. Scheduling and an overnight layover allowed me to spend some time in the evening, and then again the morning of my connecting flight, on Haneda airport’s open-air observation deck. Usually on the second day I crash real hard and take a long nap in the afternoon. This time I didn’t need one.

Another good thing to do is to drink lots of water before, during, and after the flight. Dehydration is a bigger factor in jetlag than people think, and it can take a few days after the flight to get your body back in balance. People often avoid coffee and alcohol on the flight for the same reasons, although I usually have a cup with breakfast.