Lesley

Is the jet lag worse going from New York east to Europe or West from Europe to New York? is it a problem at all? What can you do to minimize the effects of jet lag and not feel arrive? I have heard of taking sleeping pills to sleep more when you arrive in Europe. I have also heard of people trying to stay awake until the appropriate night time in their destination and being miserable waiting until it is time when most people should be sleeping. This might mean working hard to stay awake for 24 hours. What works for you?

Henning Rieske

The jet lag is worse going east since you usually loose a part of the night (when flying from NYC to Europe). Going west is not that bad if you force yourself to stay awake and sort of prolong the day. Just go to bed at your usual time - that is local time at your destination. YouŽll be up quite early the next morning though.

I would not recomment using sleeping pills even when going eastbound. Try the same as going westbound: youŽll usually arrive early in the morning in Europe. Try to stay awake for the rest of the day. YouŽll be exausted that evening but IŽll guarantee a good nights sleep!

B. Schurenko

I've used the program in the book "Overcoming Jet Lag" by Charles Ehret & Lynee Scanlon numerous times and its never failed me. The program was developed by the US military.

Arizona

From experience, I say you can't get around jet lag, but you can mitigate its effects. l. Never drink any alcohol during your flight. 2. Of course, try to get a good night's rest the night before. 3. Try your utmost to stay awake upon arrival until your normal bedtime hour. It's always harder to do eastbound than west, as an earlier commentator says. 4. If at all possible, get out into the sun. Part of your internal clock mechanism responds to daylight, and it resets itself more easily when you expose yourself to natural light. Don't know why; it just does. 5. Don't worry if you lose a night's sleep; excitement, new surroundings, noise, etc. can cause anyone to become unable to sleep. You'll live, believe me. Just enjoy!

penny

I agree that you should try to stay awake on arrival at your destination until at least early evening. I don't agree with the 'stay awake at all costs' theory. I think it is better to take small cat naps when you get really drowsy, but do NOT lie down. Sit upright in a chair, so you will only sleep for a short time. I find one of the best things to do on your first day in a new city is to find an interesting museum or gallery, and walk around it slowly, sitting down often to rest on the hard benches they usually provide. That way, you are seeing something of value, but not making big decisions about changing or spending money, or anything you might regret later. It also depends how much you as an individual are susceptible to jet lag. My husband recovers really quickly, but I take two to three days to get into proper sleeping and waking patterns.

Jo

I agree DO NOT drink any alcohol and try to keep awake until nighttime if you can to catch up to the local time. You should count yourself lucky you don't have the 24 hour flight we Australians and New Zealanders have to get to Europe!

Binnie

Just returned from nine days in London I live in Calif. I have always had a terrible time recovering from jet lag when I get home. This time I found a homeopathic product called"NO-JET-LAG" it really worked for me. It usually takes me a week to recover, this time I felt like myself almost immmediately after I returned. Good luck.

Mike Miller

I agree with the no alcohol advise. Melatonin helps me reset my internal clock when going to Europe. I take one just before bed and that combined with the loss of sleep puts me right out.

roger

My wife and I have flown from San francisco to London 8 times. I find the trip over the hardest and my wife feels the return is harder to get over jet lag. The flights over generally leave between 5 and 6 pm and you arrive between 11 and noon the next day. I do drink two glasses of wine and lots of water and right after dinner I take a melatonin and try to sleep. No movies. At times I can sleep up to 5 or 6 hours. When we arrive we keep moving and have a early dinner and then to bed. By the next day I am usually ok but a little tired,by the next day I am on local time.

Frank

Lesley, I have heard that you can avoid getting jet lag if you stay in Disney* of course depending on the site you are living if you stay in Disneyland or in Disneyworld. Have fun!