Coping with jetlag!
 

We are making our first trip to Europe (London & Paris) in the Spring. We're taking an overnight flight (from East Coast). Is it practical to think we will sleep on the flight? Should we take a Sominex? Or is jetlag not that big of a deal? Also, I've heard it's a good idea to go to be earlier and wake up earlier a week or so before we leave. Will that help?

Everyone is different so there is no one correct answer to your question.

Some people can sleep on a plane just fine. Some people will never sleep on a plane under any condition (me!). Jet lag and the significant time change does not effect some people, but nearly incapacitates others (me!).

As far as guessing how it will be for you... does it effect you dramatically when we go on/off daylight saving time? Can you sleep in a car or on a bus? These might be clues to how you will react on am overnight flight to Europe.

A lot of jet lag can be in the mind - you think you're supposed to have jetlag, so you do. It will help a lot if you just don't try to do too much your first day there, and set your watch to local time right away, and resist the temptation to say, or think, back home it is such-and-such a time. Works for me, and I can't sleep on an airplane either. I avoid sleep aids because they continue to make me groggy later when I want to be awake.

There have been many posts here about jetlag and how to prevent it...a search would be productive.

No, don;t assume you can sleep on a plane.

Don't waste your money on Sominex when you can buy generic Benadryl cheaper (which is the main ingredient in preparations like Sominex...any antihistamine which causes drowsiness will work as well).

Some people find Ambien more helpful for sleep.

Drink lots of water and avoid alcohol.

I sure agree with all the other posters.
One thing that does work for me is that I change my watch when the plane first takes off to the time it is where I am landing. For some reason that helps. And my experience has been after arriving, yes take it easy the first day. And I don't take a nap. Did that once and found that than that night could not sleep than tired the next day etc.

Walking around in fresh air sure helps me the first day after being cooped up in a stuffy airplane. A cup or two of espresso helps also! Eating light but well. Get to bed at a decent hour the first night works, and than find the next day all is fine.

In my case however I get jetlag flying home. Theis is the reverse of what the "experts" say as they say it is harder fying west to east than east to west. But not for me. But think it because flying home (east to west) is the feeling "oh no, the trip is over" and than there is the unpacking, the laundry, going through mail, making phone calls etc. Oh joy LOL.

One thing you have in your favour also is that you are flying from the east coast rather than the west coast which really extends the flight.

I always think ones first trip to Europe is the most wonderful of all. Enjoy every moment!

Hi,

As an aussie, I think i can speak through experience. I have travelled to the USA 3 times (14-16 hour flight) and to England once (26 hours). The problem with trying to sleep on the way over, is you have to combat the excitement factor as well.

In my USA experiences, I left in the afternoon in Australia and arrived in the early morning in the USA. I really didn't find jet lag a major issue. I just immediately tried to adapt to USA time. Therefore, set your clock on the destination time and try to sleep in their sleeping times. I am a big fan of sleeping pills. Otherwise, I just cannot sleep. I find that a little sleep is a lot better than none.

As far as the England trip (26hours) is concerned, the jet lag was very very bad. I was very tired for the first 3 days. I was falling asleep early each night, when I wanted to be out doing things. You probably won't have to worry about that.

All in all, I don't think it willl really be an issue for you. Your excitement will get you over your tiredness.

As has been mentioned, jet lag is a personal thing. Everyone reacts differently - you'll just have to see what works for you.

For me, traveling west to east is a breeze. No, I don't sleep (unless I get upgraded to business or first class, which is very unlikely) - not a wink. But I do drink lots of water to stay hydrated (washed down with a bit of wine), and alternate periods of dozing/resting with brief periods of exercise (such as is possible) to keep the blood flowing.

Vitamin D (which you can get from exposure to sunlight) is crucial. When I get there, after I check in at the hotel I go immediately for a pretty brisk walk, followed by a café stop, just to get me in the "mood" and to have a very strong coffee (which I normally never drink at home). I then keep walking, get myself on local time as far as meals go, and have a nice LIGHT lunch, then more meandering in the afternoon. Around 5 pm Europe time I go back to the hotel and take a long shower and take care of whatever business I need to (phone calls home, e-mail check...whatever), then venture out for an early (and I do mean early, because it's hard to get dinner at such an hour) dinner around 7 pm. I'm usually back at the hotel in my jammies by 9-9:30, watch a bit of local tv, and lights out by 10 pm. Next day I'm good as gold - no jetlag.

Others will tell you a nap is essential on the first day. If I take a nap, I'm toast for the first 5 days of the trip.

East to west is another story. I've never managed to conquer jet-lag going that direction, though I've slowed the effects a bit. For the first four days back I'm a wreck by 3 pm. But I'm not a napper, so I just soldier on and look like an extra in Night of the Living Dead for a few days.

Thanks for all the really good advice! I am a light sleeper & I'm sure I'll be too excited to sleep anyway. I'll just take it easy the first day and hopefully be adjusted the second day.

There are at least two schools of thought about what to do on arrival in Europe to minimize jet lag. Most people here believe that you should keep going all day and go to bed early. For me, after a sleepless night on a plane, this is impossible. Instead I take a nap as soon as I can get into my hotel room. When I get up I can walk around, have dinner, even stay out late at a concert or show because it feels earlier to me. The first couple of nights in Europe I can enjoy the night life because I am not yet fully adjusted. After that I am back to my early-to-bed, early-to-rise natural rhythm.

StCirq, your post is interesting to me as I guess we are the same. And all the "experts" say flying west to east is the hardest for jet lag. Guess some of us just don't fit the profile!

One of my friends in Italy also has this problem. After flying to SFO from Venice he is like a zombie. Truly, at least for 48 hours. But flying home is no problem.

It is interesting how we all have different reactions.

My personal formula:

I have a few drinks before/during/after dinner (avoiding long-chain esters such as scotch or bourbon; stick to vodka or gin).

I drink lots of water and take 3 aspirin tablets before sleeping.

I go to sleep a few hours before my usual hour and get a full night's rest.

I don't watch the stupid movies.

This works for me. It may not work for you. Shut up.

Jet lag is a big deal. Take a flight which coincides with your normal sleeping time. From the east coast that means take a 10pm flight and not a 5pm flight. Then you can sleep. Fill your belly with pasta and wine. Take an aspirin, which also has reported preventative powers against DVT.

I fly from the west coast, don't sleep on the plane, am ready for sleep fairly early the first night in Europe. The thing is..I find I am awake extremely early in the morning the next day. I was up at about 4:30. Went for a long walk which was great and watched the city wake up. The bad part of the deal was I couldn't get a cup of coffee til 7:00. THAT part was horrible..I would have killed for a cup. Anyway jeffrx, you've gotten several good suggestions and I think you'll be fine. London and Paris was my last trip and you will just love both those cities. Would love to hear of your experiences when you return.

Oh crefloors, your comment about no coffee in the early a.m. reminded me of the second morning one time in Milan when my DH woke up and woke me up. And before 6:00am we are out walking, ready for morning coffee. Not to be!!!!

Too funny (but not than). Ready to kill is the best description. ~o)

What works for me is a homeopathic remedy called No Jet Lag. It's made in New Zealand, and I buy it at my local natural foods store. I have also seen it at REI. You chew one tablet on take-off, one about every two hours, and one after landing. I'm leaving for Rome on Friday, and I'm taking it with me.

Hope this helps.

This is a timely topic for me, having flown from Munich to SFO about 10 days ago. The first leg was a nine hour flight from Munich to Philadelphia, next was a six hour flight into San Francisco. The good news is that for the first time in my life I was able to sleep on the plane. I knocked out major z-z-z's on both flights. The bad news is it took about nine days to get my circadian rhythm back on track here at home. I was waking up hourly for several nights, finally getting out of bed about five am. Naturally, I was asleep on my feet by about three pm. It all seems to have worked out though, and in retrospect I should have been more relaxed about the whole problem. Why did I report this? In case you have a similar pattern on either end of your flight, just be aware that jet lag is not terminal and you'll eventually get back to normal!

Regarding jet lag, there are some herbal remedies (such as "No Jet Lag")you can take that MIGHT help (check with http://shop.gorp.com/magellans/ or http://www.travelsmith.com/home.jsp and also your local herbal supplement/nutrition store). I have also seen it in some shops at airports, and it may be available in some nutritional supplement stores.

Also, as soon as you board your OVERSEAS flight, set a watch to the time of your final destination, and start living by that time immediately. A VERY important thing, however, is regardless of how tired you are when you arrive, DO NOT go to bed and sleep unless it is close to normal bedtime at your destination. If you do, you will suffer jet lag for several more days. Stay active to keep awake, then go to bed at the normal (local) bedtime, and the next day you should be pretty much okay. On the flight, drink lots of water, and try to sleep based on the time at your destination.

There is a new product I have heard about, but have not yet tried, called ENADAlert. You take it about an hour before landing, and it boosts your energy level for about five hours. According to the Washington Neuropsychological Institute, who conducted a study, ?Their energy level was restored, as was their ability to concentrate.? It is available at GNC stores in the USA, or by calling 1-800-636-8261. For more information, go to: http://www.enadalert.com/

Taking a sleep aid that lasts longer than your proposed time of sleep is not a good idea. In other words, don't take something that lasts for 8 hours when the max sleep you will can get is 4 or 5 hours.

--Marv

It strikes me funny that people jump down your throat if you complain about the dollar but nobody says "hey, its jetlag, deal with it and you should be lucky you get to go!" Personally, its no big deal. The first day is tiring but by the next your ready to jump on the metro and head to Sacre Coeur and have some Coquille St Jaques. Pas de probleme. C'est rien la!! Coming home is somewhat tough. Going west aint fun but I never cared much for California anyway. Sorry!

We go to London often, and usually on an evening flight arriving LHR anywhere between 8-11ish. We sleep a little but now we seldom eat the meal and we drink lots of water. We have found the best way to do it is to arrive, check in, shower, and get out of the room. We walk for an hour or so, grab a light lunch, and then just keep going. We have an ealy dinner, say sixish, stay up until 9:30 and then sleep. ALl is back to normal for us by the next day. I find if I sleep after first checking in it takes me a few days to catch up. And....I hate wasting the time sleeping on my first day in London or wherever it may be.

My big problem is 2 AM for the entire first week. Even if I put myself on a local regimin right away, I am wide awake at 2 AM. I get a ton of reading done.

We travel often and we cope with jet lag when we fly to Europe and going there is not that bad. Here is what we do:
1. Sleep a little on a plane (take some benadryl or tylenol pm. We try not to use other medication beacuse we do not know how it will interefere with other medications we take.
2. absolutely no alcohol or caffeine on the flight
3. a lot's of water to drink
4. on arrival, refresh, rest a little, take care of phone calls, etc, and go out in daylight. Easy meals first day, early dinner. Coffee during the day.
5. Early to bed. around 9. We usually wake up maybe one time but then fall asleep and next morning we are ok.

Traveling on vacation is much easier to cope with jet lag then to come home. After coming home, it takes me almost a week to get back to normal, usually in the evening I am wasted after 8pm.

But it is not as bad as coping with Asia Jet Lag. After Asia trip, trip to Europe is much better.

There is a suggestion which I never tried myself beacuse we never have enough time - waste a day.

Instead of having fly from Easy Coast US overnight flight (conveninent to fly after work and next morning you are in Europe!), consider taking day flight. For example, many day flight to london arrive in the evenning, so it is just you day is a but extended. You arrive in the evening to Europe and go to bed. Should be easier.

I will try it when I will retire!!!! :-)

My strange problem is: Other than a couple of times, I've only gotten really jet lagged on return home and not so much at my destination. While the talk of east-bound or west-bound effects make sense, this has been true for the most part whether we've traveled either direction. I'm beginning to think my jet lag has a lot more to do with going back to work than it does flying!

I'll sure agree with emtravel though. Once you go trans-pacific (we're about equal distances from either US coast and travel to Australia often), that trans-atlantic stuff is a piece of cake.

StCirq and LoveItaly- what is funny about the West/East vs East/West jet lag problem is it has been different for me different trips. The first couple times to Europe I was wasted for the first 5 days. My most recent trip this summer I miraculously was fine upon arrival, but suffered terribly after I returned home.

So I'll reiterate I firmly believe that jet-lag is individual, further not always consistent for the same person:

Sleep on the plane; don't sleep on the plane

Drink alcohol; don't drink

Take sleeping medications; go natural or with homeopathics

Take a nap upon arrival; stay awake

Jet-lag is no big deal; jet-lag is awful

As others have said, you will have to figure out what works for you.

The formula that works for us is:

Arrive early AM in London (after overnight flight from east coast, US). Get through baggage, customs, etc.

Go directly to hotel. Check in if possible.

Nap. Not more than 2 hours.

Get up, shower, dress and leave hotel.

Eat.

Sightsee, walk around.

Eat again.

After-dinner long walk (seeing the beauty of the floodlit buildings makes it easy to walk fairly long distances and not feel tired).

Back to hotel and to bed ("normal" or slightly early...maybe 9:00 to 10:00).

Up at usual time in morning and off we go.

If you can't check into your hotel, at least drop off your luggage. Go for a walk and have lunch, then come back to the hotel and check-in. Nap, have dinner, go for long walk and to bed at a normal time.

This works perfectly for me, my husband, my parents, the other family members I've traveled with and the two friends I've gone "across the pond" with.

It's just our experience, and I hope it's helpful to you.

Gayle

I have to agree that the way your body handles jet lag is a very personal thing. On my first trip to Europe, I tried to follow the usual advice (which does work for many people) - do not nap, get outside, try to go to bed at a reasonable but early time. I have to say I failed miserably. Upon our arrival in Paris, we went for a walk, had lunch outside, walked from Arc de Triomphe to the Eiffel tower and that is the last thing I remember... I collapsed on the bench next to the Eiffel tower and somehow my husband managed to get me on the Metro and we made it back to the Parisian suburbs (we were staying with my aunt that time). As I said I have no recollection of that trip back whatsoever. I think he put me to bed at 6 pm. I spent the next three days suffering from the worst jet lag of my life.

So needless to say, on the subsequent trips I decided to give the napping strategy a chance. And it turned out to work beautifully for me - have a nap after lunch, proceed with not too strenuous evening plans, go to bed 10ish and I have not had to worry about jet lag again. Interestingly enough, I only get jet lagged going to Europe. Neither coming back, nor going to and from California from Boston gives me jet lag - I just tend to go to sleep and wake up a bit earlier for a day or two.

Of course, not being able to sleep on planes might contribute to the severity of a jet lag - I tend to get sick whenever sleep deprived. No amount of Sominex/Benadryl/Ambien/Zanax seems to help with sleeping in a siting position bit. You might be lucky and be able to catch some sleep. That should definitely help.

kasperdoggie, My doctor told me some people are physically unable to sleep sitting up. Somehow this was a comforting piece of information, since I'm obviously one of them!

OH Suze! Don't be sucj a big wuss!!! Jetlag is part of the experience! If you are that opposed to it then stay home!! Go to Epcot. Then you can tell people you've seen the Eiffel tower and the leaning tower of Pisa in one day and you suffered no jetlag. They'll speak English there too!

EEEhhh, that was nice!!!
Anyway, yes, jetlag is the worst and I hate! It takes me only 2 days but I know that I am a wicked b@#$& until I get adjust!!! My husband is so patient with me, thank GOD!! Not drinking too much caffeine helps.

No Jetlag and Ambien seem to work for me going over, but part of it is my excitement, no doubt. They seem to help coming back, but I still get a bit jetlagged, but part of it is probably the usual "after vacation" letdown.

I always believed jet lag was part psychological and part physiological.
Everyone seems to have their own pattern to cope with it. Some people must take a nap upon arrival, others must avoid napping at all costs.
Some people think a big meal is needed upon arrival, others would rather a light lunch.
I don't think there is one right answer. If you travel frequently, you already know what works for you.
Personally, the excitement of the journey itself is the "drug" that keeps me going. Somewhere during the initial day, I need a 2 hour nap, strong espresso, moderate-sized meal, and brisk walk (not necessarily in that order). I never sleep on the plane, use sleeping pills or booze it up on the plane ride over.

I agree everyone is different. For me, for some reason the 6 hour time change from East Coast to Europe is hardest for me. In contrast, SE Asia 12 hours I have less problems...is that weird?

For Europe, I've done everything from drinking (not recommended) to sleeping aids (knock me out night time cold formulas)...the latter only makes me groggy on arrival. I usually just get a lack of sleep the night before I fly so more prone to sleep in-flight. First few nights in Europe its hard to get to sleep before 1am....but then the drinking does help and recommended :)

But generally I find the less I think or worry about it the quicker I adjust.

On the otherhand, if you don't want any jetleg sail over on the QM2.

I do not understand why some people say so emphatically DO NOT DRINK ALCOHOL on the flight. Why not? I do it every time, except on domestic flights when I don't care to pay the outrageous price. Why whine about the free wine while you fly to Europe?

Hopscotch,
I mean to excess...getting socked is no way to arrive Europe, not only tired but more deyhydrated than ordinary drinking. But sure its fine to have a couple drinks...relax fall asleep, no harm.

Harm to me once was a flight back from Europe, in my younger days of course, free drinks, drank like a fish....back the days with a smoking section and had a group of people playing cards. Well it was the fast 8.5 trip I've ever taken. But arriving customs they realized our state and could only laugh, needless to say they didn't ask us any difficult questions. The good ole days :)

When I took my first ever transatlantic flight in 1990, I consumed 4 or 5 beers on the way. Part of that was nervousness regarding the flight itself. My grandma's words kept circulating through my head, "Why would you want to go fly over the water like that?"
Anyway, when we landed, I not only suffered from jetlag, but also from a headache and a hangover.

Alcohal dehydrates you at that altitude that is why people don't drink. I sip the wine with the meals if it is good wine. I also take a xanax but it hasn't worked so far with putting me to sleep, I may have dozed a few minutes on overseas flights.

I have been taking No Jetlag the last few trips and it seems to work, maybe just the placebo effect.

Oh, I forgot to mention that as the plane lands I pop some strong vitamin B's for a pep up.

west to east is hardest for me by far. This last trip we were upgraded to business class from SFO to Paris. Even still, while I slept and could walk about Paris the next day, I suffered some pretty intense nausea for about 3 days. Mind you this was with hydrating, minimal ETOH etc. East to West is very little problem for me. Folks I know swear by the homopathic "No Jet Lag".

This has been very interesting how jet lag effects everyone. I got my issue of Travel and Leisure in the mail a couple of days ago and there is a short article about jet lag. I've used ambien for years and it works for me. But this month fda approves a new drug Estorra which works a little different you still does off in 30 minutes but will sleep up to 7 hours. But is strongly recommended to try once before traveling. Good luck everytime is different for me. Have a great trip.

My time-worn, beats-all, sure-fire remedy for jetlag :

Step 1: Go buy a turkey
Step 2: Take a drink of whiskey, scotch, or JD
Step 3: Put turkey in the oven
Step 4: Take another 2 drinks of whiskey
Step 5: Set the degree at 375 ovens
Step 6: Take 3 more whiskeys of drink
Step 7: Turn oven the on
Step 8: Take 4 whisks of drinky
Step 9: Turk the bastey
Step 10: Whiskey another bottle of get
Step 11: Stick a turkey in the thermometer
Step 12: Glass yourself a pour of whiskey
Step 13: Bake the whiskey for 4 hours
Step 14: Take the oven out of the turkey
Step 15: Take the oven out of the turkey
Step 16: Floor the turkey up off the pick
Step 17: Turk the carvey
Step 18: Get yourself another scottle of botch
Step 19: Tet the sable and pour yourself a glass of turkey
Step 20: Bless the saying, pass and eat out

Okay, Okay. I actually learned that here, on Fodor's. Good recipe, though, aint it?