I don't have jet lag either when flying from one coast to another. I do have it when flying to Europe and back.

I prefer starting out in a city. There are usually lots of things to do day and night, so I can adjust my sightseeing to my wakefulness at the time. Not just the time of day but also the amount of time I think I have til I next nod off. London's perfect for this, so much to do.

I wouldn't do the 1 hr increment thing for a week. First, then I would spend a week with my inner clock all messed up - by the time I got to Europe, I'd just be sleep deprived rather than acclimated to local time. Second, this only works if you have a flexible schedule. Getting up at 1am and going to bed at 5pm just isn't going to work. My employer expects me to be at work at 5pm.

I just accept that jet lag will be a factor - on arrival day I get some exercise, eat well, and go to bed relatively early. That way I get a good, long sleep, and am pretty much ok the next day.

I also never have jet lag in US flights coast to coast, but do on trips to Europe. I sleep as much as I can on the plane, don't drink alcohol, walk a bunch when I get where I am going, and don't drive the first day. You will see how you do when it happens.

To avoid jet lag, take a morning flight to London from east coast of USA.
You land at night , go to bed and wake up without jet lag.

lalala: "<i>Well you must not get very affected by your environment because my surroundings completely influences my energy level.</i>"

But we aren't just talking energy/activity levels. Jetlag is a whole different animal. It has more to do w/ your body clock than your surroundings.

And it isn't really something that would affect you much on a transcontinental flight. Transatlantic is another different animal.

Lots of folks do recommend going on to somewhere small/quiet/restful to recover before hitting London. But they fail to mention that few if any of those small/quiet/restful locations are easy to get to from Heathrow w/o a lot of to-ing/fro-ing and schlepping of luggage on/off various transport.

I fly from the inland northwest, and it's a long, long day for me. Even though I try to sleep on the plane with ear plugs, eye mask, special pillow, and benadryl, I'm always jet-lagged when I go to Europe. I may be pretty perky when I first land, and I go to bed early the first night, but I still find myself unaccountably exhausted at 3:00 p.m. or some other unexpected hour.

"<i>I still find myself unaccountably exhausted at 3:00 p.m. or some other unexpected hour.</i>"

OR - awake at 03:00 AM

Actually when possible I like to build in a few days at the start of the trip to get over jetlag. I did this once in Amsterdam (5 days solo) before going on to Switzerland to meet friends. I just wandered around the city, got lots of fresh air, ate, napped, slept when my body felt like it. By totally giving into the jetlag, for me I got over it and had an enjoyable rest of the trip better than times I'd fought it and tried to keep going pushing thru.

lala~ This is one of those questions you might really not want the answer to (lol)!! You'll see for yourself how it is for you. A few people don't suffer jetlag, but most people do to varying extents. You need to remember it is not only about taking a plane flight, it's that you are then living in an entirely different time zone, that's where "jetlag" comes from.

My DH doesn't get jet lag either. He never gets sick. He looks 20 years younger than his age. I'm starting to suspect I married an alien.

Jet lag, IMHO, is something that some people make way too much of. I'm in my mid-50s, so I'm no spring chicken, but I ignore the effects of jet lag.

Just what exactly is it?

1) Dehydration from flying long distance, thus, drink fluids, but not alcohol or caffeine or sugar enhanced. Water or things like gatorade are good.

2) Body clock. When you land, after an "overnight", your body is still on your original internal clock. It say "Hey, it's 2 am", but your location says it is 8am. Some folks sleep fine on planes, I don't. What I do is eat a light supper at the airport before I leave. Once the flight is 30 minutes out, I take a sleeping pill and try to get as comfortable as possible. I doze for the next 8-12 hours. When I arrive, I'm a bit tired, but not exhausted. From the moment I land until about 10 pm I'm on the go. Not crazy going, but doing interesting things. Do not take a nap. At about 10 pm, your adrenaline is now all used up and you are tired, now go to bed. Set a clock to wake you at a normal hour. You have just reset your clock.

Forget NASA, I was on ballistic missile submarines and we had an 18 hour day- not 24, so adjusting to that kind of time differential is really weird.

You are young, and it won't affect you nearly as much as us old farts that hang out on this board.



dave

Dave:.People have different reactions and some suffer more than others. Those who suffer less are not morally superior.

<<<sap on Jun 5, 10 at 1:11pm
My DH doesn't get jet lag either. He never gets sick. He looks 20 years younger than his age. I'm starting to suspect I married an alien.>>>

LMAO

Dave~ That's like saying since YOU don't get insomnia, people "make too much out of it". Believe me, when it happens to YOU (bad effects of time change, motion sickness, insomnia, jet lag, whatever) it can be pretty bad. I do agree with you that jet lag has gotten worse with age, so Lala will likely be just fine.

I love to travel to new and exciting places but, as mentioned abocve, jet lag is jet lag. Your body needs to readjust, and until that happens you may suffer the effects of jet lag regardless of where you are or how excited you will be. I fell into that trap myself. I remember sitting on an S-Bahn train in Vienna, literally falling asleep, despite how beautiful and fascinating I found the city. In London (my first trip abroad) the jet lag was overwhelming. We went back to the hotel to take a "quick nap" that ended up being 5 hours! Never again will I take a nap on my first day without setting the alarm clock...

Now I take Ambien every time I fly overseas. For me it just works. I get to sleep not long after the flight takes off and I sleep until around the time the breakfast carts start rolling around. The sleep helps me adjust a lot quicker. It's not for everyone though. If you do attempt a sleeping pill of any kind, try it out a few nights before your trip; you don't want to find out that you have a side effect while on the plane.

Tracy

oddly, i have less jet lag effects as i have gotten older. perhaps because i am more used to it now...?

We always try to take the morning flight from New York or Newark to London.

We leave at about 9 am and arrive at about 9 pm. You get to your hotel around 11 pm or so, which is only 6 pm (or 5 pm) at home, but you've been up so early and had a busy day so you can grab something to eat and get to bed by midnight. It's easy to get up the next morning. No jetlag whatsoever.

reactions to jet lag varies considerably-flying from Australia to US and London both entail at least 19 hour flights for us yet we really suffer effects going -it's the jetlag that hits us when we get back home that gets us down