Best way to deal with jet lag

Old Feb 20th, 2005, 10:29 AM
  #1  
jgg
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 2,683
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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.
jgg is offline  
Old Feb 20th, 2005, 10:45 AM
  #2  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,124
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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.
Wayne is offline  
Old Feb 20th, 2005, 12:24 PM
  #3  
jay
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 998
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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.
jay is offline  
Old Feb 20th, 2005, 12:43 PM
  #4  
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 7,888
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
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.

AJPeabody is offline  
Old Feb 20th, 2005, 01:03 PM
  #5  
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 96
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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!
mamarosa is offline  
Old Feb 20th, 2005, 01:05 PM
  #6  
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 1,626
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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.
Kate_W is offline  
Old Feb 20th, 2005, 03:16 PM
  #7  
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 1,331
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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.
Edward2005 is offline  
Old Feb 20th, 2005, 07:36 PM
  #8  
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 45,322
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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.

LoveItaly is offline  
Old Feb 20th, 2005, 09:51 PM
  #9  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,525
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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!
dutyfree is offline  
Old Feb 20th, 2005, 10:35 PM
  #10  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 6,127
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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.
francophile03 is offline  
Old Feb 21st, 2005, 03:18 AM
  #11  
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 12
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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.
nhmom is offline  
Old Feb 21st, 2005, 04:33 AM
  #12  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,604
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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.
opaldog is offline  
Old Feb 21st, 2005, 06:53 AM
  #13  
jgg
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 2,683
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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!!
jgg is offline  
Old Feb 21st, 2005, 07:11 AM
  #14  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 19,358
Received 79 Likes on 8 Posts
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 Bon Voyage!
Gardyloo is online now  
Old Feb 21st, 2005, 07:20 AM
  #15  
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 877
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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.
Zeus is offline  
Old Feb 21st, 2005, 08:41 AM
  #16  
jgg
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 2,683
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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?
jgg is offline  
Old Feb 21st, 2005, 08:51 AM
  #17  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 19,358
Received 79 Likes on 8 Posts
Rome.
Gardyloo is online now  
Old Feb 21st, 2005, 10:56 AM
  #18  
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 655
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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.
risab is offline  
Old Feb 21st, 2005, 11:44 AM
  #19  
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 434
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
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)
Carmen is offline  
Old Feb 21st, 2005, 01:33 PM
  #20  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 97,137
Received 12 Likes on 11 Posts
This is such an individual thing! There is absolutely no universal <best way> 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 "their time" 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.
suze is online now  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information -