Saw this today and talked my friend into doing it this weekend as he leaves for the states on sunday. We shall see if it works!
Link

I might need to try this. Last week, within two days I did a red eye, SFO-BUF and then SFO-ZRH. This week, I have been waking up every night at 2:30am and can't sleep again until about 5am. Really sucks...

Thanks for the tip!

fduvall

My cure for jet lag is to take a sleeping pill and sleep for the whole duration of the flight. Which also means you don't eat during the flight. So there is probably merit to that article.

Here's what I do on transatlantic in both directions. It works, but requires a little discipline:

Direction North America (West): Upon arrival in your destination force yourself to stay awake and go to bed at your normal time. If you didn't sleep on the flight maybe an hour or two earlier to bed.

Direction Europe (East (overnight)): I try to take a later flight that arrives late morning European time, that way when I am boarding it is my natural sleeping time and I can get a few hours kip. If you have an early flight, don't sleep or only manage an hour or two of shut-eye then force yourself to stay awake until about 11am or so after you land. Then have a nap for max of 3 hours. Force yourself to get up, finish off the day normally, and go to bed at a normal time.

The very next day I am as awake as I'll ever be. Sticking to these routines has solved my jet-lag woes.

You feel it's midday and it's late at night: Get hammered at the destination so you end up in bed earlier.

You feel it's midnight and it's early morning: Get hammered on the plane so you drift off early in the flight.

I have successfully applied the heavy drinking solution many times whilst working night shifts.

Go without food for 16 hours!!!! I'd rather have the jetlag!!

I'm sticking to Peachy's alcohol based approached. Works for me everytime. don't know if it stops the jetlag. I'm too hungover to notice.

I'm with you on the alcohol thing for two reasons:

1. I hate flying
2. If your business class....well it would be rude not to wouldn't it

just as long as when you arrive either end you don't have a meeting to go to!

When flying, I always employ the alcohol solution, followed by sleep. However, after two redeyes in the Eastern direction over less than three days, my circadians seem to be totally screwed. Since arriving in Zurich, I am staying up every night until past midnight, but still wake at 2:30am.

Oh well, will try to exercise this weekend and apply a little more wine to the problem...

fduvall

Well, maybe not starve yourself for the entire flight, but certainly sleep for as much of the flight as possible.

If you're flying from Switzerland to Australia, there's usually a stopover, so I will often eat once I'm off the plane and in the airport.

I'm not a fan of plane food so I like to eat beforehand, but I might have a snack or two on the plane before I doze off.

The last few times I flew to Australia, I slept right through, and it feels better to arrive hungry than to spend a whole week feeling jet-lagged. The flights I take tend to arrive in the early morning in Australia anyway, so it's good excuse to go straight from the airport to a nice café for breakfast.

The last time I had jet lag, it lasted over a week (pretty much the whole time I was in Australia), which didn't make my time there too enjoyable (was in bed by 9pm most nights).

To need to employ the alcohol solution, but to a greater degree.

"New research shows Viagra may be the solution for travelers who suddenly find themselves needing to rise hours earlier as they cross time zones, at least if those travelers are hamsters.
A study at the Universidad Nacional de Quilmes in Buenos Aires showed that male hamsters who received an injection of sildenafil along with a 15-minute stimulation of light were able to adjust their internal clocks by six hours in roughly half the time that hamsters who did not receive the treatment took. "

Maybe worth a shot??

I'm an expert on jet lag. I used to travel so much I was it was my permanent state. I've heard about the fasting, getting exposure to sunlight when you arrive, melatonin supplements and even viagara as an aid to resetting the body clock. Take it from me, whatever mice and hamsters tell you, nothing resets the body clock but the passage of time. What is important is that you regularise the sleeping pattern asap. Nothing worse than the purgatory of sitting in a hotel room at 2:30am flipping mindlessly thru night time TV programming when the rest of the city is asleep. You finally nod off into a deep sleep just as your wake up call rings. I found sleeping pills or wine help induce sleep, especially if taken together and in sufficient quantities. I've never tried Viagara. It might have some effect on the body but my guess is not one that will help you sleep.
http://www.zen36049.zen.co.uk/CLANGN...g%20jetlag.jpg

On my recent trip to Australia, flying cattle class, I ate every scrap of food that came within a 1m radius of me. One of my main memories is of being hungry for a lot of that flight.

I guess it depends on what you NEED to rise... That is probably NOT what I need when I have to make the early meeting at the new client that I have just traveled 5K miles to see!

fduvall

at least you'd appear pleased to see them

Provigil works wonders for me, but you have to smile nicely at the prescribing Doctor or risk online pharmacies...
(Wikipedia link)

I am with you on this one, my friend - i share your post almost to the comma... Jet lag and sudden changes in temperature (like from winter in switzerland to summer in brazil) have caused me a lot of errrr.... suffering. The worse is that no else seems to understand what you are going through and expect you to be as fresh and witty and cool and sparkling as recently arrived from a nice morning coffee break. * SIGH *

Anyway - i try to fight jet leg to put myself to sleep with zolpidem (stilnox). It just induces sleep, and after 7h you wake up. As Uncle Max says, you have to smile nicely to the doctor to get a prescription.... I never take it during the flight itself: sometimes the time of flight is not enough to sleep off the pill, and a typical side effect of this medicine is get to do very strange things without knowing it. Inducing sleep is not really the panacea, because you still have all your meals confused and feel strange about the time, but at least you feel properly rested.

I also went to hell and back during a time in my life when i had to do one day trips in Europe. Waking up at 4h30 in the morning to get on the first plane to wherever and get back on the last flight was extremely * unhealthy *. Now i refuse to do this and put myself under such stress...

If anyone knows about a job with a bit less travel ......

I only get jet lag when I travel eastward. I hear the same from others. I find drinking lots of fluid (liquor) and not sleeping early to be effective.

Sleeping pills suck (IMO). When they don't kick in correctly, you're a monster the next morning, with a funny taste in your mouth. Melatonin use to be recommended as an alternative, but it has never worked for me.

As they say, west is best.....
My worse moments have always been when i fly eastwards. I had a trip to Japan that ended up in the hospital emergency due to sleep deprivation... They had to find a Portuguese interpreter for me, as this was the only language i could speak at that moment (indeed it is the only language i can speak at all moments, but normally i can make others believe that i can _also_ speak others...). I also have a sleep disorder that doesn't help much....

Not sleeping is worse than not eating.... and yet we each generation of this part of the world is fatter and sleep less than the previous.

Stilnox was lifesaver for me too. The doctor told me it's what airline pilots use after trips. Even half a tablet was enough to get me to sleep and I would wake up feeling pretty good, able to function and not at all drowsy.