How to beat jet lag every time: our tips
Long-haul intercontinental flights are fascinating, allowing you to move from one side of the globe to the other, in a [...]
Long-haul intercontinental flights are. fascinating, allow you to move from one side of the globe to the other, in a spacious plane with all the comfort on board and attendants who make sure you don't miss a thing.
In this article:
There is only one annoying note: the Jet Lag.
Jet lag is a decompensation temporary that comes to those who face transoceanic or intercontinental travel and cause crossing different time zones, causing our biological clock.
The most common symptoms are altered sleep, nervousness, headache and lack of appetite, as well as a general "lightheadedness" malaise.
Everyone has their own techniques to get around this annoying inconvenience, but if you are new to this or want some more tips, we have collected some tricks that can help you the next time you face a long plane trip.
1. Get used to the new schedule as soon as possible
A few days before departure, he begins to gradually move thehours of meals and the sleep, From half-hour to half-hour. Sometimes anticipating or postponing our rhythms by just one now is sufficient to have less jet lag hangover.
If you are traveling east, it is better to go to bed earlier and anticipate meals as a function of sleep; however, if we travel westward then we postpone the whole thing, both meals and bedtime. The more we we synchronize to the time zone of destination the better, all within the limits of what is possible of course.
One trick is to have 2 clocks, one of them set it already with the time of arrival and watch it often during the days before departure, that way your brain already begins to store the new information and will be less traumatic once it is realized.
2. Don't sleep on the plane if the time difference makes you arrive late in the day at your destination
10 hours of flight time can be tedious, and the easiest way to kill time is to sleep.
Sleep, however, is a double-edged sword; on the one hand, once we arrive we will be rested and charged with energy to start the journey, on the other hand, you have to pay close attention always to the time zone.
If we sleep 5/6 hours out of 10 hours of flight time and once we arrive it is late afternoon or evening, we will definitely have problems to fall asleep again having already had 5 hours of sleep, our brains will get confused at the next morning we would be worse than before.
We only sleep on the plane if once we arrive at our destination it is morning or lunch maximum, if we go beyond that we risk making the situation worse.
If we arrive late in the day, we try not to sleep on the plane, even if our home time zone tells us to sleep, we always look at the time zone of arrival and forget that of home once we leave. Force yourself not to sleep so that you arrive late in the evening tired and ready for sleep, and the next day you will be less dazed and fresher.
All the opposite, however, if when we arrive it will be morning, then the smartest thing to do is to go to bed late before the flight, or in general don't sleep so much before the flight, once up, take advantage of all the available flight hours to get as much sleep as possible, hire melatonin if it is possible a couple of hours before the flight or before sleeping in the air and down firmly in the arms of Morpheus.
By doing this once we arrive it will be morning and then we will have the whole day at our disposal to enjoy the trip and to be rested and recharged; in the evening then we will go to sleep with the local time zone.
3. Water, water and more water
La dehydration worsens jet lag symptoms, keeping a hydrated body is what it takes to avoid headaches as much as possible.
Drink water during the flight, the dry airplane climate also promotes dehydration, and if we have to be on that plane for 8/10 hours, not drinking will doom us to a headache That on vacation it would be preferable to avoid.
4. Once you arrive follow the local time zone even if you are tired
Air travel can be exhausting, especially on long hauls, the temptation to jump into the hotel bed once we arrive is great but we have to resist, especially if it is still broad daylight.
Synchronizing with the local time zone as early as possible is the right move to enjoy the whole vacation without jet lag. When we arrive, let's go out, have a walk, even if we are tired, have dinner at the local time and go to bed when the sun goes down, forget about the time difference at home.
5. A site comes to your rescue
It is called Jet Lag Rooster, this site allows you to set the place of departure and arrival, with the relevant schedules. This will help you establish a routine a few days before departure so that you get used to the new schedule as soon as possible.
The app helps you calculate the hours of sleep, light, and dark that you need to adhere to in order to best synchronize before departure.
What about when you go home?
Well, the important thing is that the trip Is safe, when we go home we can afford a couple of days with our biological clock out of phase, When you are on vacation, you must not waste a single minute!
In general, however, the same rules, if you land during the day, we try to stay awake until bedtime and synchronize meals in the correct way.
