Best way to deal with jet lag
 

We leave in less than 3 weeks with our kids age 9 and 12 for our first trip to Italy. We have flown several overnight trips from Hawaii back to the west coast but have never flown internationally with the large time difference. I am having trouble figuring out how best to deal with jet lag.

We will be leaving the West Coast at 3:50pm arriving in Frankfurt at 11:00am (2am our time) leaving Frankfurt at 2:10pm and arriving Rome at 3:55 pm (7am our time).

We will be staying 6 nights in Rome before moving on to Venice(4 nights) Florence (4 nights). Gave Rome the most nights for obvious reasons but also to give us an extra day to adjust.

My kids travel well and don't have any trouble sleeping on the plane. But should we try to get them to go to sleep on the plane early? I am worried they could easily stay up until 11pm (our time) and then have to get up 3 hours later in Frankfurt.

Also, we have scheduled an orientation chat with Context Rome/Scala Reale the morning after we arrive at 10am. Normally I would want to start earlier in the day but don't know if we should take it slow the first morning or will be wide awake and might as well get out of bed early??

Any other tips on how to deal with the time change from seasoned travellers would be greatly appreciated.

I can only tell you what I would do. I would get the kids to go to sleep on the plane right after service of the evening meal. You do the same. There are various safe over-the-counter medications that will help all of you sleep if you need the help. Sleep as long as you can, and then when you finally arrive in Rome, go to the hotel and check in, but don't go to bed. Take a stroll around the city and have an evening meal, then retire. You might want another dose of the sleeping medication to help you sleep through the first night in Rome. You should be quite adequately recovered in time for your Scala Reale schedule. Good luck.

Most likely the kids will sleep on the plane as should you. The best advice and it looks like you get in late enough, is to stay up until 9:00-10:00pm then get a great nights rest. you wont get to your hotel until 5:30 at the earliest and you will be very excited upon getting there. you should be good to go that first morning. Dont take a nap.

Jet lag for places to the east used to make my first day of vacation and first day home a disaster and make the next day a mess, too, until I started following the following regimen:

1: For a few days before the trip, start getting up an hour early and go to bed an hour early, too.

2: Stay up late the night before the trip so you'll be exhausted the next day.

3: As soon as you are on the plane, set your watch to the time at your destination. Then behave according to the time on your watch, and ignore the activities on the plane. No movie, no alcohol, and if you don't usually eat supper at 2 AM, skip the airline foods. You did bring a sandwich to eat while waiting after the security check before boarding, didn't you?

4: Use eye coverings to keep light out of your eyes when your watch says it should be dark. If all you can see is black, your light activated body clock will prime for a reset to "dawn" when you later see bright light with a strong blue component.

5: At your European destination, reset your body's light activated clock for dawn by staring at the bright sky (not the sun!). Then act in accordance to the local time, and don't even try to figure out what time it is at home. You are home here, so act like it, and your body clock will follow. This includes eating, sleeping (no nap!), and other bodily functions. This is easier than on the plane, because everyone else will be in sync with local time already.

6: Set an alarm for a reasonable wake-up time the next morning, and you're good to go.

I don't know if this will help or not, but this is what we plan to do in May when we leave for the UK. Since we are leaving from Orlando, which is 3 hours from our house, we decided to get a room near the airport the night before we leave.

We plan to set our watches to UK time as soon as we check into the hotel. We will wake up at UK time the morning we depart and will go to Denny's for a nice big breakfast. After breakfast, we plan to go for a nice walk around the hotel parking lot, then go watch some tv. By the time they are serving the breakfast buffet at the hotel, it will be UK lunch time.

The way we figure it, by the time we get on the plane, we will be exhausted, and ready for a nice sleep, without the help of medication. We'll wake up refreshed and ready to go when we land in London. We'll have a light first day and an early night.

Have a great trip!

I agree with some of the suggestions already made, but I want to point out that the "stay up all day" technique doesn't work for everyone (me, for example). I get splitting headaches if I try to stay up all day into the evening when I first arrive in Europe. I've travelled to Europe about 30 times in the past few years, and the few times that I skipped a nap I was a wreck, and every time I took a nap I did well.

What works best for me is:

1) Melatonin (two 3 mg tablets), which I take as soon as I sit down on the plane. (I don't bother taking the stuff the day before I leave, as some recommend.) They take about 60-90 minutes to kick in, so I'm usually ready to sleep as soon as dinner is over. (If your flight is later and you want to skip dinner on the plane, you could take the pills when you get to the gate, before you board.) I sleep well for about 4-5 hours, but I'm alert enough on arrival to manage connecting flights, etc. I find that over-the-counter sleeping pills, Nyquil etc leave me feeling groggy and slightly nauseous. I avoid sleeping on the connecting flight.

2. On arrival at my final destination in Europe, I try to get a bit of light exercise (e.g. an easy 45-60 minute walk to get my bearings, stock up on provisions, etc). But I also take a short nap afterward (some time between late morning and mid-afternoon) - no more than 90 minutes (usually less). I can sleep under any conditions, and I find it helps to retain some natural light in the room, so I keep the drapes open but leave the windows covered with sheers. The daylight helps reset your clock. I get up, go out for a latish dinner (usually I have a business-type dinner meeting that doesn't start until 8 pm), and go to bed around 11. I take 1 more Melatonin, and I sleep well.

When I get up the next day, I'm good to go. I sometimes have a little trouble sleeping on the 2nd night. If I wake up in the middle of the night, I take another Melatonin.

It will be a bit of experiment for you and your kids on this trip. You might find that one or both of them (or you) really need a nap. If someone is really not functioning well (e.g. has a headache, is very cranky, feels a little sick), let him or her have a short nap. If you plan activities outside the hotel on your first day, make sure that you don't stray too far afield, so that one of you can return with a child for a nap if necessary. But make sure you don't sleep too long, or you'll never sleep that night.

After the plane has taken off, set your watch to your destination's time and start thinking in terms of that new time. Avoid caffine and alchohol because they make jetlag worse. Drink lots of water or juice. Sleep on the plane as much as possible.

Get as much outdoor exercise as possible once you arrive in Europe. Sunlight in particular is somehow a key to re-setting your biological clock. Go sightsee! You'll feel out of sorts, but don't just sacrifice a valuable vacation day to jetlag.

Whatever you do, you must resist the temptation to go to the hotel at noon and crash for 4-5 hours. Your biological clock will have a much more difficult time adjusting and you will drag out the adjustment process much longer than necessary. Try to stay awake until a reasonable European bed time, like 9pm.

I am usually fully energized and recovered from jetlag on the following day, so this routine works for me.

I do what Edward suggests. The only difference is because I have dinner with friends in Italy I do not get to bed on the first night of arrival until about midnight. And then I wake up at 7:00am the next morning (as I usual do at home). Starting that day I always seem to be just fine.

I happen to fly overseas once a week for work and I highly recommend the following: upon arrival at your hotel,get something light to eat;take a shower and then take a nap(no longer than 2 to 2 1/2 hours-with more sleep you get too deep into the REM sleep and feel horrible!)then get up and get OUTSIDE having something like a coffee to jumpstart you. You eat dinner around 7-8pm and can be back at your hotel and in bed by 1000PM ready for the next day.I have tried many different ways and this really seems to work. When you stay up all day you are a total zombie and really don't make good choices/decisions on anything. That little 2 hour nap really takes "the edge" off. Good luck!

I agree with dutyfree. I really can't sleep for long on the plane and I don't want to take antihistamines or whatever to make me sleep. I wake up groggy. So I just get whatever sleep I can on the plane, arrive, walk around, nap for a couple of hours and usually it's dinnertime I wake up because I have a restaurant reservation to go to. After dinner it's time to sleep. Then I get up the following morning at the usual time as I do back home. I have worse problems adjusting to the time after I return from the trip.

Have done similar trips with children/teens several times. First trip, I was worried and tried to manage our jetlag. Talk about stress and exhaustion! Since that 1st trip, I've taken the view that flight/jetlag is part of the journey and adventure. The kids watch movies (when Virgin, that means as long as they want and they love that!). I have wine and any meal served.(I love that!) On arrival - nap, walk and explore immediate neighborhood, dinner, tv/read, sleep. Next day, we're good to go. However we've done it, the kids adjusted great and parents fine.

I don't like to take any meds, over the counter or otherwise. I do set my clock to the time of destination when I sit down on the plane. I have my dinner with wine, generally. Watch a movie if anything decent is showing, read a bit, write a bit and try to sleep a bit. I also try to get up at least 2 times and stretch in my seat. I use the bathroom before landing to freshen up; wash face with cold water, brush teeth. Once at my destination, I walk, walk, walk. I have a light snack or meal. Usually dinner out, but if renting an apartment, bring food in. Then try to get to sleep around 10:00 then up the next morning. I don't like to nap upon arriving, as I feel as though I was hit over the head when I wake. I also have more of a problem upon returning. I usually have to go right back to work and feel horrible the first day back.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I really like the idea of changing my watch as soon as we get on the plane to mentally be on the new time. I am not big on taking OTC drugs to make me sleepy as they often keep me awake instead, but we may try melatonin. We will try to get everyone to go to sleep fairly early on the plane. Then as nhmom said I will try not to manage or stress over jetlag!!

Especially if you're just transiting FRA (thus no bag claim etc.) that 3 hours at the airport are a critical time. If you're anything like the majority of humans, no amount of napping or melatoning will remove that gummy, yukky feeling you get sitting on a plane for 10 hours. (And no mistake, flying from the west coast to central Europe is way different than from New York to London.)

There are showers for 6€ at Terminal 1 at FRA. Use them and get your US$8 worth. Absolutely amazing what a shower (& a shave if appropriate) and some personal hygene time can do for you after a cross-polar trek. Pack some clean "smalls" in your carryon if you want. A bath and scrub will make the chaos of Rome airport-to-city way easier.

Yes, set your watches. Stay up till 11, get up on time with the locals, and don't use anything sharp for two or three days. You're trying to fool Mother Nature and you know what She says about that.

Oh and <i>Bon Voyage!</i>

I'd like to add my endorsement of melatonin. When I was a youngster (20 years ago) I could stay up all night on the plane and drive the car all the next day for the rest of my group (while they slept). It was very hard for me to sleep anywhere in an upright position. But as I got older I found that despite still not being able to sleep on the plane, I was a Zombie by 3:00 pm the next day - Not really a safe way to drive on the Autobahn. Then I read a similar thread about using drugs, adjusting your watch, changing sleep patterns, yada yada yada.

Since I didn't really think it would go over real well if I suddenly decided to visit a doctor for the first time in 10 years and ask him to prescribe sleeping pills, I bought melatonin at WalMart. The stuff is great. Not only has it helped me fall asleep on the plane ride over the Pond, but I actually feel rather rested the next day. It doesn't make you feel groggy or dopey. It just seems to change your biological clock almost immediately. Like Kate W, I use it the next night na dany other time I have a little trouble getting to sleep. I even ocassionally use it at home instead of having wine or beer to knock me out.

Gardyloo: Thank you so much for the shower tip. I definitely will want to do that!

One question though. I thought we would be going through customs in FRA since that is our first EURO country arrival point. Therefore, we would need time to pick up our luggage, etc. When flying home from Mexico and Jamaica we always went through customs in US at our first destination (Atlanta, LA) and had to pick up our luggage before our final destination flight to Oregon.

Am I incorrect? Will we go through customs in Rome?

Rome.

We have taken several transatlantic evening flights arriving in Europe in the early morning. Some flights were quiet and we all were able to sleep- another was very hot and uncomfortable and another had a kid coughing all night long-so, you may need to keep your options open for how you want to deal with your arrival day with your kids. The first time we went to Italy I tried to take the advice of posters here and stay up until the evening. We went for a nice long walk but around 1:00 we all felt exhausted and light headed. We took a two hour nap and that helped refresh us and we stayed out until about midnight- slept late the next day and were ready to roll. From then on, we have always decided to take a short nap either upon arrival or after a short walk in our destination city.

jgg: you must live in Portland! We are taking those same flights when we go in June, so I've been avidly noting all the helpful responses. Last time we took the kids to Europe they were 9 and 12. They did just fine with the jet lag, although they did not sleep much on the plane. My husband and I were up all night packing, so we were plenty tired, but felt like h*** the whole first day. After that we were good to go. When I take my daughter to London next month, we arrive very early in the morning and would like to go to the theater in the evening, so I'm going to test out the short nap technique. Have a great trip. And post back about the showers at FRA if you decide to do that!

Carmen (in PDX)

This is such an individual thing! There is absolutely no universal &lt;best way&gt; only hundreds of ideas and tricks.

For example, I've tried it both ways... but I prefer to leave my watch as is, then a couple hours before landing switch it to the local time. For whatever reason I find this less disorienting than cranking it 9 hours ahead when I step on the plane.

My BEST suggestion for the original posted question is STOP thinking &quot;their time&quot; vs. (our time). Once you arrive, it IS the time it is... don't look back.

Walk, walk, walk, get lots of air and sun and just try to live in the moment.

I do use a prescription sleep aid both on the plane (I still don't sleep much) and the first couple nights. Again, personally I usually build in 4 days at a city I'm not all that interested in and just sleep and wake on my own schedule, but that won't be possible or desirable to everyone.

I use melatonin, but not in the way others do. My understanding is that melatonin resets your body clock, so I don't take it on the plane-I take it the first night at bedtime upon arrival. So yes, I'll be sleepy that first day, since I can't sleep on planes, but I have ZERO jet lag after that first day because my body clock has been set to local time.

Carmen: Actually we live in Medford so first have to fly from Medford to Portland, but that is the PDX flight I listed. I am promising myself that we will pack early so as to avoid staying up late to do it - best laid plans!

Nobody is mentioning the product called NoJetLag, which is available on drugstore.com and also on the website nojetlag.com. I read about it on another website and have bought some. People seemed to swear by it. I am hoping it works.

Has anyone experienced any specific side effects by using Melatonin?

If anyone out there has tried that herbal NOJETLAG remedy mentioned by ARTSFAN, please share your thoughts.

I have seen it available in stores but wanted to hear about others' experiences first.

Thank you.

After researching the same subject, I recently purchased the No-Jet Jag tablets for a trip to Italy next week. Any feedback on them would be great!.

I have used No Jet Lag on my last two trips to Europe, and it certainly seems to help. What it does is alleviate the disoriented, drowsy feeling you get the first day. It appears to be a harmless concoction of herbs, and tastes like a sugar pill, so maybe it's just a placebo affect, but I'm sold on it!
I wonder how the No Jet Lag would interact with melatonin?
Upon arrival at my hotel I crash for about an hour and take a cat nap - my wife feels better if she doesn't however.

I have used NO Jet Lag and it works great ! I used it on my 2nd trip from Atl - Tokyo and what a drastic difference ! Wish I had known before ! I was able to nap on the plane and felt great upon arrival. They are available at most natural foods store... the people there will be able to give you more info. The store here sells tons of them to businessmen that travel internationally. You can check out their web site as well &quot;nojetlag.com&quot;.

I live in Seattle and to me this is the only down-side to living here--the time it takes to get to Europe.

I have used No Jet-Lag and it works for me, but I also take 5 mg. ambien on the plane to sleep.

I also avoid alcohol on the plane and drink LOTS of water (which I bring on the plane after all I've been reading about airline water) and order low-fat/low cholestral meals (to avoid the sodium in the regular meals).

Have a great trip and let us know how it goes for you and your family.

Since the thread is still active...

how does one experiment with different remedies? I'd love to try out the remedies a few times, to see which work for me. Has anyone 'practiced' from home?

My biggest problem seems to be nights 1, 2 and 3 once in Europe. I can go and go all day, but lie awake at night, and then am a bear in the morning...

I have been to Europe three times - 1. in HS, too young to know the difference.

2. Honeymoon, I think all the drinking &amp; late nights up to the flight allowed me to sleep on the plane, but I had a terrible time days 2 and 3 in Italy.

3. Ireland - again, had no problems on landing and staying up day 1, but nights 1, 2 and 3 I could not get on schedule and paid the price in the mornings.

We always use No Jet Lag on our return flights from USA/Canada to UK (no need on the way out excitement carries us through!) and find it really works for us. We have used it on about 5 occassions over the past three years and now reccommend it to everyone.

We, too, have used NoJetLag (a New Zealand product, also available through Magellan's) on several long flights. It works well for me, although my husband finds it less effective. I think you have to follow the directions precisely for it to be most effective; you need to take it quite often (every hour or so?) throughout your flight, except when you're sleeping. A good pillow or cushion for the plane is also essential!

As others have said... once on the plane, set your clock to the destination time. That is what time it is... do try to sleep on the plane. I find even light sleep or napping helps a lot. (Common and good advice is to avoid alchol, but I find ONE glass of wine helps). The important part, is when you land use the local time and don't beat yourself over the head with time of when you left. I always use the first couple of hours to check out the area around my hotel, grab a coffee (if its morning.. ie befor 10:00 AM and add details to my next day(s) plans and search for a place for dinner that evening (early on this one). I go to bed early, (shortly after dinner) and plan to wake early the next day. The objective is 10 hours of sleep. I usually don't have a problem.. and jet lag is gone. The important part.. forget about about what time it is at home and get yourself into the local time schedule whille you are on the plane.

Jet lag isn't about lack of sleep, nor is it about sleeping patterns.

Jet lag is about time zones.

There are biochemicle processes that occur within certain cells in your body which take 24 hours to complete from beginning to end with a 1 hour variance for adjustment.

This biological process are what make you feel like you should be awake or asleep. The process is supposed to start at first light. This is a reference point from which the process can adjust itself by no more than 1 hour per day.

If you are taking a long haul flight between London and Brisbane, there is a 10 hour time difference. To completely get over the jet lag will therefore take 10 days. However, when the bioclock is only out by a few hours you won't notice it anywhere near as much so in reality, you'll be ok after 6 or 7 days.

There are drugs you can get to help get over jetlag. You'd have to take them during the 7 dat period in the above example.

Many people tend to compare jet lag to shift work. These are two very different things.

I have used melatonin and Ambien and neither did anything for me. I also can't sleep on planes, even when I'm flying in business class. When I fly longhaul on business to attend a conference, I always arrive a day or two early so I can rest and recover (when I fly from Germany to Chicago, for example, my favorite way to spend the first night is eat a light room service dinner at 5:30 pm, change into PJs by 7 pm, watch TV in bed, and zonk out by 9--the next day I feel great).

I remember those long flights from PDX to Europe. What worked best for my husband and I was to walk around in the fresh air for an hour or so after checking into the hotel, do no major tourist activities the first day, eat lightly the first night (salads, soup, nothing heavy and only a little wine but lots of water with dinner) and simply go to bed early (9 pm at the latest) and get a full night's sleep.
My brother in law travels frequently on business to far flung destinations (rural China, northern Norway, Africa) and he asked his physician what the best cure for jet lag was. The answer: sleep.

Message: While I've never really had much practical experience with this, scientific studies have shown that the best possible way to get rid of jet lag the fastest is to expose yourself to as much sunlight as possible. So I suppose what that means is, go ahead and do all the outdoor activitiers that you were planning on the first day itself, and avoid being indoors, say in a museum, or theatre.