thursdaysd

If I can sleep on the plane I should be able to stay up until local bedtime (say 10:00 to 11:00), but if I fly economy I only get a few cat naps and there is no way I can last that long. I eat a light lunch and go to sleep for two to three hours. When I get up I shower, eat dinner with everyone else and go to bed at 11:00 or so. Then I'm synced by the morning. (Note, I'm talking about flying US east coast to Europe.)

MmePerdu

"I've noticed that lags get rarer and rarer the older I get."

It's been said, everything is relative. Maybe brain fog is the new normal, so less lag, comparatively speaking.

fuzzbucket

My strategy for a transatlantic flight is to stay up all day and all night before I get on the plane - no stimulants, just excitement and leaving the packing for the last minute, which keeps me occupied.

I can never sleep on a 9+ hour flight until maybe the last hour before landing. But when I do land, I have all my wits about me and am able to stay awake until the "new normal" bedtime.

Personally, I think you might be wasting money on energy boosters or sleep aids. Jet lag is not the end of the world, unless you have a severely limited amount of time to get a whole lot of things done.

If you find that you are really exhausted when you arrive, have a light snack and go to bed. Set an alarm for whenever you want to get up. You might think that it's a waste of time to be sleeping, but if you try to "power through" the day/night, you might make yourself and everyone around you miserable. It's important to remember that this is also the time when most visitors make costly errors with money or end up getting pickpocketed.

Edward2005

Stay awake until 9pm or 10pm local time or suffer the residual effects of jet lag for several days. Your choice.

Fra_Diavolo

My usual routine after a fitful (always) sleep on a transatlantic flight is to drop my bags at the hotel, and inquire hopefully about early check-in (usually denied, these days). I get some lunch, check in, and take a nap. Nothing feels quite as good as those clean sheets -- except maybe the shower afterwards. Then it's up for some late afternoon walks until drinks and dinner. Works for me.

jubilada

I could take thirty ambient and I couldn't sleep more than 3 hours on the plane. I nap , stay up until 10 local time , am tired the next day but serviceable. I nap the second day too and by the third day I am acclimated.
But everyone is different.

hetismij2

Neither of us sleep well on planes, but we do try to doze a little if we can.
Returning home from the US we stay awake. Inevitably I have to do some food shopping and stuff like that, but take it easy. We go to bed a little earlier than normal, and aim to get up early the next morning. We used to be fine then, but as we get older it takes a little longer, but after two nights we are fine.
The one time we did nap it took nearly a week to get over the jetlag.

Everyone is different and you just have to deal with it however you can.

thursdaysd

'Stay awake until 9pm or 10pm local time or suffer the residual effects of jet lag for several days. Your choice."

What part of "everyone is different" do you not get? I nap, I am synced by the morning.

suze

I fly from Seattle and I can't sleep on planes.

I always nap in the afternoon for a couple hours the first few days. If I don't I'm a zombie for the entire trip. If I take a couple days to get onto local time, then it works out a lot better for me.

Napping FOR ME is what gets me over jet lag and into the local time adjustment the quickest.

Wine also helps ;-)

Kristina

Count me in the nap camp.

I fly from the US west coast, so a morning arrival in Europe means I'm arriving in my body clock's middle of the night. I also can't sleep sitting up in economy, no matter what I do. There's no way I can stay up another 12+ hours without sleep, so I rest, usually not much more than an hour or two. Without it, I get physically ill. I nap, then go out, then try to sleep at normal bed time, usually waking about 4 am on the first full day.

phillyboy

Every flight is the same for me. Whether it's duration is to be 45 minutes or 10 hours, I get drowsy shortly after take-off, my eyelids weigh about 12 pounds, and I fall dead asleep ... for all of 20 minutes. I am then wide awake for the rest of the flight.

I've tried boozing, not boozing, eating, not eating, listening to music, watching movies, reading, finding someone boring to talk to, taking sleep medication, doing nothing, counting sheep, etc., etc., etc. Nothing works. After my little nap, I'm done.

The one good thing is that, upon arrival in Europe, I am so wired that I can usually go all day without a drowsiness problem. I'll eat a big dinner with wine, then sleep like the dead that night and wake up raring to go the next day.

colduphere

If we feel like napping we nap.

If we feel like staying awake we stay awake.

MarthaT

I don't sleep at all on a plane. Can't fall asleep in a sitting position no matter how tired I am. But I usually hit the ground running and try to walk and stay outside all day. No naps for me. They say the sun helps jet lag and I think that is true.
I do hit the bed at about 9 pm or maybe a little earlier and then get a good nights sleep.

Kandace_York

This is all fascinating -- thanks for sharing your experiences.

There are four of us and it's likely that each of us will react differently. Two of us can nap just about anywhere, even standing up as long as we have a wall to lean against. One doesn't need much sleep and is up at dawn (or predawn) 365 days a year. The other is a near-chronic insomniac who will probably be most in need of naps or any sleep he can get.

Thanks again for your tips and travel history. Much appreciated!

grandmere

I never sleep on the plane so do take a short nap after I arrive, and that works for me. However, my flight for upcoming June trip leaves PIT very late, arriving at CDG around 11:30 am.--I was very surprised to see this, and here in Pgh., this is the only non-stop option. Not sure how this will play out and am wondering why all of a sudden Delta changed the flight times. The return is late in the day, too.
Always so envious of everyone else in cabin fast asleep while I am reading; a very lonely feeling, despite being with how many people stuffed in like sardines!

shellio

There's no one-size-fits-all answer. Some people are more affected by jet lag than others, some are more Type A than others and will barrel through no matter how they feel. I'm in the napping camp because I just feel better that way, and if it takes me 2-3 days to acclimate to a new time zone, so be it. I just sleep late and spend my afternoons out in the light as much as possible. Once or twice I thought I had gotten away without problems when I slept well the first night, but the second day it hit.

My husband feels tired and can't sleep at night for the full nine days it takes for his body to get used to being nine time zones away from home. He falls asleep about 4 AM and sleeps till 11. That's one reason we never go to Europe for less than 3 weeks, it just isn't worth the physical and psychological strain.

suze

<a near-chronic insomniac>

That's me. And I believe those folks suffer the worst from jet lag and the time change.

flpab

I am traveling from the east coast so much better than the west coasters. I take 5mg of ambien and sleep on the plane. I also set my watch to the correct time of my arrival destination. I love traveling in the spring and summer and early fall when the day light hours are still long. That helps me to stay awake. I leave my blinds open and wake with the light of day. I only have trouble with altitude if we land and go right to the mountains. I like to gradually work into that now. Give me a day in Munich first.

I hit the ground running and don't go to bed till normal time. I am not wasting any vacation time sleeping or taking a nap but I am an east coaster so less of a time difference.

steve1526

http://www.chronobiology.ch/wp-conte...ns/2007_10.pdf

maxima

As flying gets more and more cramped, I find I harder to sleep on a plane, though I do take a pillow, and,a really comfortable eye shade, and ear plugs.

on arrival at my hotel I generally find it helpful to get a good cup of coffee or tea and something to eat and to walk around a bit. I keep to a light sightseeing schedule that first arrival day, and just get my bearings if i am somewhere new.

there have been times I just need to lie down for an hour or less, and just stretch my back out flat on the mattress, and there is nothing wrong with a short nap if that is what my body needs. I do try to stay up until at least 9pm, and then a relaxing hot shower and off to bed within the hour.

i may get up in the middle of the night the first night but after that i find i am active enough to straighten it out

i am a proponent of water on the plane and no alcohol which is dehydrating. have your drinks after you land