Jet Lag Management - The de-I Way

 If you travel a lot internationally, you will hear a lot of different ideas on how to manage jet lag, the issue of your internal body clock being out of synch the actual day/night cycle your body finds itself. Here are a few.

1. Adapt quickly to your new time zone. When you arrive at your destination, try to forget your old time zone as quickly as possible. ...
2. Manage sleep time. ...
3. Drink water. ...
4. Try light. ...
5. Drink a caffeinated beverage. ...
6. Keep your sleeping space comfortable. ...
7. Try melatonin. ...
8. Use medications.

I don't use any of these. I have developed my own system. It is a system based upon making use of the longest, transoceanic leg to readjust the sleep cycle so when you arrive at your destination you are well on your way to acclimating to time zone you have arrived. 

Sometimes the way the flights are timed makes this much easier. For example when going from the U.S. to Europe, one typically leaves in the evening and arrives in the late morning. By going to sleep as soon as possible after you've taken off and eaten, you get what is close to a regular sleep (depending on how long you usually sleep). Then if you immediately get into the day when you arrive, you are well on your way to getting adjusting.

However coming back the other way is more of a challenge. Now you leave late morning Europe time and arrive early afternoon U.S. time. As the day goes on in the U.S., your body clock thinks it is way in the middle of your sleep cycle. If you give in to it, you will be awake at just the time for local time to say you should be sleeping. The key here is to get some sleep early on, then fight to keep awake until it is finally local sleeping time.

Anyway you get the idea of how this works. This technique has helped me be incredibly productive and functional despite all the international travel I do. However, you may remember my last trip to Ghana in January my arrival was totally screwed up and I had the worst case of jet lag I'd had in years. The root cause of this was the particular routing I had taken. The core of the problem was a 7-hour layover in the evening at New York's JFK airport combined with a midnight departure to Ghana. As an early morning person, that 7 hours during the evening in New York was painful. I slept through most of the flight to Ghana meaning I had done exactly what I just explained you shouldn't do. I had kept myself on my original sleep cycle.

This trip, I was on the same flight so I knew I had to come up with another plan. The plan called for at least two naps during the 7-hour layover in New York, followed by a very circumscribed sleep of 3 hours during the 9+-hour flight to Ghana. Then, being sure to stay up after arrival to Ghana until the normal go-to-sleep hour, local time. The biggest impediment to executing this strategy was the lack of good areas to lie down and nap at the Delta Airlines club in JFK. However, I was to find an adequate place. I executed the strategy to perfection and have slept well both nights since arriving.