leaving from the east coast of US thru LA - will jet lag be worse heading to Australia or returning?

I don't know if there's any scientific basis for it, but we've always felt more jet lag when we go to Australia from the East Coast than when we return.

I don't think there is any difference in terms of flying east versus west.

There are some things that I find do help to minimise jet lag such as arriving at night or late afternnon (helps you get into the right time zone). Often QANTAS flights to Australia from the US arrive very early in the morning and it's difficult to stay up all day.

Another factor, particularly when flying south/north or north/south is seasonal proximity (Autumn/Spring and vice versa). Often there's not as much of a temperature gap between say New York and Sydney in September. I find going from a southern Summer to a northern Winter hardest.

I never seem to suffer jet lag when I leave Australia and head either to Europe or the USA. I always ensure I stay up until normal local bed time (even with a 5am arrival)and then take a sleeping pill that first night or two. I hit the ground running and do not miss a beat.

However, coming back to Australia I suffer terrible jet lag - I feel I could sleep for days. This last time I felt like it took a month to really get back to normal.

I've often wondered how it was for folks coming downunder and whether they suffer jetlag coming and/or going. I'll be interested to see the responses.

returning!

Conventional wisdom suggests that traveling from west to east is more disruptive to sleep patterns than traveling east to west, and I've found this to be true for myself.

I travel from Asia to the US twice a year and my jet lag is always much worse going to the US than returning to Asia (14-15 hour time difference)

When we lived in the Middle East, my jet lag was always worse returning from the US (8-9 hour time difference).

I've also read that women are more susceptible to jet lag than men.

Not sure I believe that one though.

As an Australian who has been to the USA many times we always find going there to be much harder jet lag wise than coming home. I guess the usual wisdom applies. Drink plenty of water, avoid caffiene and alcohol and try and sleep as much as you can. The good news is as much as I hate Jet lag its memory has long faded whilst the great memories of the holiday live on.

Best way to beat jet lag, is to have stop overs, where you can have a good nights sleep, and depending on flight times, catch an early flight to arrive at your destination in the evening. We often do stop overs enroute to the UK, either at Bangkok (with Thai Airways) or Dubai (with Emirates), it really does make a difference.

If you can use FF miles to get first class, you can sleep 8 hours or more and have barely any jet lag. I get it a lot and the best thing for it is lots of sleep. We landed in AUS at 630 am and so had the whole first day to get through, but sleeping on the airplane made it quite easy. Coming home is always hard IMO because of the letdown effect, no matter which direction we are coming from. We are so excited to get TO our destination that we fight the jet lag but once we are home, it's easier to just let it overcome you!
Sally in Seattle

Lived in Australia for 4 years and travelled back and forth to the US all the time....everyone in our family (3 kids included) had the most difficulty going from Aus to the USA. I mean it took alot of days to get readjusted....going to Aus took 1 day to adjust...everyone is different...good luck....