How to Overcome Jet Lag Quickly--Jerelle

Since summer is approaching our way and some may be travelling to and through
different time zones, I thought a piece about jet lag may be helpful. Jet lag is, as defined by
dictionary.com, “ a temporary disruption of the body's normal biological rhythms after
highspeed
air travel through several time zones”. My definition of jet lag is a messed up
sleeping schedule, due to travel, that makes a trip filled with snappy comments and grumpy
attitudes. The reason for the odd selfdefinition
is because of experience. The last time my family
travelled and jet lag hit us very badly was when we visited Rome. It was non stop touring and
walking, and we had not adjusted very well to the time difference.There were a lot of sore faces
and whining on that trip. Here are some ways to quickly overcome jet lag quickly.
Step 1. Just don’t travel. It’s as simple as that, there’s no need to mess up a comfortable sleeping
schedule. Just kidding, travelling is wonderful when given the opportunity. So really the first
step to overcome jet lag is know which direction you are travelling, east or west. This may sound
odd, but this has to do with your internal body clock. It is advised when travelling east, wake up
time and bedtime have to be earlier than what you are accustomed to. For example, when
travelling from Los Angeles to New York City. To adjust to the three hour time difference, wake
up time would have to be 7 o’clock in the morning, while back in LA, it is 4am. Same thing for
bedtime, 11 o’clock at night in NYC is 8pm in LA. As for traveling west such as travelling from
LA to Hawaii, wake up time and bedtime would have to be later than normal. So setting up a
sleeping schedule will definitely help with your adjustment to the new time zone.
Step 2. Try not to sleep or take a nap until it is an appropriate time to do so. It is understandable
that a flight is draining, but as soon as you land, do not go to sleep unless it is night time at your
destination. If you arrive during the day after a long flight, do not sleep. It may be tempting, but
sleeping during the day will only make your adjustment to the new time zone longer, which
sometimes poses an inconvenience. An example of such an inconvenience is when you are
hungry and no food place is open because it is in the dead of night or the businesses close earlier
than what you are accustomed to. My suggestion is to adjust a quickly as possible so that you
will not get hungry at an odd hour.
Step 3. Keep busy wherever you are. This helps with avoiding the desired nap and sun exposure
may help the body adjust to the new local time. Hopefully being exposed to the sun will help, it
has always worked for my family whenever we go travel. Staying occupied while adjusting will
be difficult, but it is honestly worth the few hours of grumpiness versus almost a week’s worth of
jet lag. It is basically, would you rather have one unpleasant day versus miss out on the
remainder of your stay wherever you are visiting? Having one unpleasant day will help ensure
the rest of your vacation will not be interfered with jet lag. This had happened to me and my
family once. We had booked a trip to Thailand, and as soon as we arrived, we slept right away.
We gave into the exhaustion from the long and uncomfortable flight. When we woke up from
that slumber, it was around two in the afternoon. This sleep pattern continued for four days out
of our seven day stay. So one day’s worth of staying up definitely helps adjusts a sleeping pattern
for the rest of the visit.
The key tools of overcoming jet lag quickly are discipline and organization. Organization is
needed because a sleeping schedule needs to be set up and daytime activities should be planned
so that the nap will not happen during the adjustment period. Discipline is very important
because in order to adjust quickly to the new time zone, the sleeping schedule needs to be abided
by. To avoid naps at odd hours, it takes discipline to stay awake when tired and when
unaccustomed to the new time change. Lack of sleep will be worth the difficult task once jet lag
has been overcome. The rest of your visit somewhere with a time difference will be worth the
while. Happy and safe travelling!