I was talking to a Mom, whose daughter is on a ten day school tour with my OD to Italy and Greece. I was commenting on how tired they will be when they get back from Europe. I, myself, was astounded at how strong and persistant our jet lag was when we got back from Paris. It took us about five days to be able to stay up until nine pm (PST) and not wake up at 4 am. The Mom's response was "they are young (18) and I told her to drink lots of water, so they shouldn't have any problems with jet lag."

So, did we feel that jet lag bc we are older and don't bounce back so fast? I know that I, for one, feel jet lag more than others. But from Europe that is a pretty significant time difference ( + 9 hours).

Do you think jet lag is an age thing? Some get it, some don't? Water helps? Or is it just a fact of life, what I believe, that you have to deal with when you get back from your whirlwind tour of Europe and adjusting back to your original time zone?

Opinions Fodorites?

No, it might hit older people who are already weak harder, but it hits all ages.
My son is zonked when he flies back and forth, my daughter takes a week to adjust from her trips..
I actually don't mind jet lag when I come home, but I do find the first couple of days in Europe to be harder..I want to stop and nap in the middle of the day.

This time around, jetlag was a real pain in the butt for me. Really took me a good week to feel "myself". I don't think it's an age thing at all. Although, when very young, my kids couldn't label what is was they were feeling, I could tell though just by their behavior.

Now that they are older they can and believe me they complain about jetlag just like I do!

I don't believe it is associated with age but I do strongly believe it is extremely individual.

My theory has to do with sensitivity to changes, time, motion. I got horrible motion & car sickness as a kid, have always had a hard time with sleep cycles insomnia, time changes, and jet lag.

Heck, I get jet lag from switching the clocks 1 hour at daylight savings time and once had motion sickness from an earthquake!

I get jet lag bad both ways, not only on the return. It is severe enough for me that I have learend to build in a first city and 3-4 days with no plans to recouperate so I can enjoy the rest of my trip.

I've traveled since I was a child. I remember the 14 (?) hour time difference when I went to Kenya as a 15-yr-old (1995) and I also remember bouncing back after about one day.

Now it typically takes me 2 to 3 days to feel normal and that is even with shorter time differences... 9 hours to Greece this past May for instance (26 yrs old). I do drink a lot of water and I'm certainly not incapacitated by the jet lag, but I am definitely not at my best.

I think jet lag is an individual thing and has nothing to do with age. The more regular your sleep habits are at home, the worse your jet lag will be. If you sleep and work and play at all sorts of hours at home, it's unlikely that jet lag will bother you.

I've had lots of visitors who have felt distinctly underimpressed by Paris on the day of their arrival, only to find it wonderful and beautiful the following day. The difference is that they were jet-lagged the first day (even if they didn't know it), and had recovered the second day.

TexasAggie, you are too old!! LOL

Someone told me that the amount of time zones you go through equals that amount of days it takes to get over your jet lag..
My son usually gets over his Japan to US jetlag in time to go back to Japan ~

When we moved from USSR to USA we'd wake up at 4 am to find our children (7 and 13) watching TV already. No, it's not just the age thing, although with age it may get longer to get over it.

"Heck, I get jet lag from switching the clocks 1 hour at daylight savings time"

LOL! Ain't that the truth!

Agree it is individual - also for me depends on ho wmuch I travel. I had several trips from east coast North america to Beijing - after a few of those babies 5hour time difference to London or 6 to "Europe" was nothing. I now find I can do UK or eg Paris and am ready to go the next day when I go and am fine the next day when i come home.

I find it is the long north/souths with no timezone differnces that get me, if I am flying overnight - it is too long to wait until it is time to go to bed!

I occassionally feel a bit jet lagged when I arrive Europe, but I'm pretty much up to par by the second day. On my return home I rarely suffer jet lag.

Of course, I think I take more precautions to avoid jet lag with international travel now than I did when I was younger, so I think it's more of the things you do to avoid it moreso than an age thing.

Anthony has it right - if you are a regular sleeper, one of those who have a hard time getting through the day if they stayed up for an extra hour the night before, then the trip will throw you. But mostly it's not really jetlag, it's the missing out on a night's sleep, like a shiftworker who has to switch shifts without the benefit of a few buffer days.

For anyone who hasn't done it - if you really want to know what it feels like in Europe on the arrival day after your transatlantic trip, try simulating a trip like this, assuming a 10 1/2-hour direct nonstop from LAX to LON like the AA lvg 6:05PM arr. 12:25PM the next day.

On a Friday night, after 6PM you move about as little as possible - you eat some, you drink some, mostly you sit in a not-too-comfortable chair (not a lazy-boy - none of this legstretching...), you can doze some, watch TV, but don't stretch out on the couch.

At about 3:30AM or so, you eat a little breakfast, and at 4:30 you get up and pretend that you're wide awake, because that's when your plane would be landing in London, 8 hours ahead of our assumed departure city of LA. Now you have to get through the day...

What you can't simulate is the going to bed that night and how it may or may not feel that night and the day after. Some people can't sleep well because, still going with our hypothetical trip, London goes to bed when it is 3PM for our LA traveller's body clock.

Coming back from Europe should actually be easier - it's just that it is a very very long day, but when you get home, you can usually go to bed pretty soon after arriving, and be in sync with everybody else, so you don't have to drag yourself around for a day like in Europe on arrival there.

But what has been said is right - different strokes for different folks. Some swear by Melatonin, others by sleeping pills (shudder shudder - as if one doesn't get woozy enough as it is...), but whatever floats your boat, or your plane as it were.

Hi Scarlett

I do hope that is not the case... otherwise in about 10 years, I will spend my entire 2 week vacation jetlagged, wearing mismatched clothing, and perpetually lost!!

No, I don't believe in jet lag, but my body sure does!

I'm generally so excited to be in Europe, even my body can overcome for 8-10 hours. Then it's "lights-out"!

MvK

Yes, I believe in jet lag. Personal guidelines for jetlag:

1. It's worse on the way over;easier on the homeward leg.

2. It's easier to go a full 12 hours difference than five or six hours.

I can't imagine why it is easier to jump a half-day than a quarter-day, but we acclimated more easily to Japan than Europe. And we do much better going ahead in time than going backwards.

My jet lag is much worse when I return from Europe. It takes me four or five days to return to normal. I don't know how much this has to do with living on the west coast, so that the time difference for us is 9 hours.

I'm always a bit spacey, weird and tired at odd times for several days after I return. I do notice it more now than I did when I was younger, but maybe I'm just paying more attention now.

I also experience jetlag after long east to west flights home to the west coasts, and suffer none going west to east. I attribute it to the fact that I get no sleep on the 10+ hour east/west flights because they are always daytime flights and even though I want to go to sleep as soon as I get home I don't because it is usually late afternoon and I will end up awake at 2am.

I believe in jet lag, and it means something fairly different from the simple fatigue that occurs the day after a sleep-deprived overnight flight.

And yes, jet lag does occur on westbound flights from Europe to North America when sleep deprivation is not really a problem. In fact, since returning American travelers are not "on vacation" they may have a more accurate sense of "jet lag" as the term was originally coined after those westbound flights.

What <i>is</i> jet lag? ?It's a delayed adaptation to a large change in time zones, typically from 2-5 days after the travel, and involves continung sleep disturbance, mood changes and gastrointestinal symptoms.

You may be able to combat the <u>normal</u> effects of sleep deprivation on your first arrival day in Europe, by taking steps to adjust your behaviors to the time zone(s) of Europe, and doing your best NOT to be sleep-deprived on your overnight trans-atlantic flight.

I am less certain what steps lead to - - or help prevent - - the <i>jet lag</i> of days two through five.

I am not aware that either set of problems is a function of age. Older travelers, who have more transatlantic trips under their belt <i>might</i> be able to better control the fatigue on day one by dealing more effectively with sleep on the plane.

Best wishes,

Rex

Whether or not I believe in jet lag, it certainly believes in me!! I am utterly zonked my first day of a transatlantic trip no matter if it's east or westbound.
The only time I feel somewhat ok is when I'm flying from London to visit my mother in Florida, because as soon as I unpack, I usually hit the pool. Swimming a dozen laps or so wakes me up. But I still go to bed early that first night.
Every November, I fly from Europe to Chicago for a weeklong convention. I insist on flying in a day ahead so I can get some sleep. I arrive in the early afternoon, do my de rigeur stroll of Mag Mile, and by 7 pm, I'm in my pjs having a simple dinner from room service. Lights out by 9 pm. I wake up full of energy for the rest of the busy week.
Jet lag always hit us hardest on flights from Portland to Europe. With time changes, plane changes, and getting to and from the airport, it's practically a 24-hour trip. One of our favorite memories is arriving in Paris from Portland in early November 2004, strolling the Luxembourg Gardens and the Blvd. St. Germain, then taking a LONG nap in our hotel room during a heavy rainstorm and waking up to see the lit up Eiffel Tower.
My brother-in-law travels to farflung corners for work. He asked his doctor at Mass General the best way to handle jet lag. The doctor told him to simply get some sleep.
My husband gets pretty heavy jet lag and has always been that way.

To me jet lag is always worse on the way back than when I arrive in Europe. I think that I adjust better when I know that I am facing a European vacation than when I get back and all of the adrenalin is gone. Either way it is usually gone in one day and I am 52 so it has nothing to do with age. Adjusting your sleeping habits to where you are going and not giving in to that urge to nap the first day really helps me get acclimated. I have to take something on the flight over or I don't get any sleep but that could be because being 6'2 and 200 pounds I can't get comfortable without aid.

Baldworth