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Jet Lag

As soon as you get on the plane, change your watch (and any other electronic devices) to the time of your destination. Do your best to hold to a normal day's schedule according to that time. When you get there, don't go to sleep until your "normal" bedtime. If you're sleepy on arrival, get outside and be physically active. For the most part, if you don't make it a big deal mentally, it won't be one physically. This has helped me immensely, no matter how many timezones I cross or in which direction. I'm rarely affected for more than 24 hours, and it's not bad.
 
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I would plan your flights so you arrive in England at nighttime, near your normal bedtime (by their clocks, not your internal one).

There is nothing worse than taking the flight that lands in the early morning.

If you can sleep on the plane, don't think you are good on sleep, because that sleep is not a very good sleep.

Ornryactor speaks the truth too. If you must nap, keep it under 30 mins.
 
When I left Korea after my short tour in 2001, the plane left base at 11 AM Korea time. 16 hours later - or whatever it was - we landed in Seattle at 9 AM on the same day.
 
CyinCo said:
Personally, I don't feel like West to East is bad. East to West is what kills me.
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This has been my experience as well. I just change my watch to UK time once I get on the flight and then I go to bed at normal times. I can't sleep on the plane. What's nice about the London flight compared to most other flights in Europe is that you can do it all within the same day if you leave the U.S. early.

The problem is when I get home I always seem to be wide awake at like 2-3 am and can't go back to sleep.
 
CyinCo said:
Personally, I don't feel like West to East is bad. East to West is what kills me.
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That's the reverse of what most people go through. Though it differs from person to person, the average Circadian rhythm (aka your internal "clock") is a little bit longer than 24 hours, which makes it easier to stay later rather than go to bed earlier. As a result, most people have a harder time flying from the west to the east (ie. travelling from the US to Europe). Everyone is different, though.

The http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_lag is interesting and informative.

Also be sure to look up some dietary information pertaining to jet lag. There are a variety of options and suggestions (requiring varying levels of dedication), but they're all generally effective. Since I handle jet lag very well on my own, the only dietary practice I generally use is eating carb-heavy, no-protein meals so that I don't want to go to sleep.
 
When I traveled to Prague several years ago it wasn't the flight to Europe that killed me, it was the flight home. There's something about flying west that really messes with me.
 
When I deployed, I flew from Kansas to Germany. When we landed, a few of us walked through the PX, roughly 2 hours after touchdown. Well, about the time we were getting ready to walk out, I had the craziest run-in with jet lag. I was just standing in place and everything was moving up, down, all around. It didn't make me feel sick, though. It was a very odd feeling. That was ~20 hours though.
 
My wife is from Germany and we fly there about once every 18 months. I've been there probably around 10ish times. Seven hour time difference. I always find it harder going to Germany than returning home. You almost always land in the morning so you shouldn't go to sleep until later that day. It makes for one long bloody day. It affects me for about two or three days usually. Try and get a four hour cat nap on the plane and fight through it. That's about all you can do.

When we fly back to the states we usually arrive back in Omaha at about 7 or 8 in the evening. Go straight to bed after a shower and bite to eat. The next morning I'm still tired, but can put in a constructive full day at work. We have two small boys now and it's a hell of a lot harder than it used to be, and that flight was never fun.
 
I have a much tougher time adjusting going east than west. Probably because I don't sleep on planes unless I take a half bottle of sleeping pills.

If you can adjust to the upcoming sleep schedule in advance, even getting an hour or 2 or 3, you will be better off. If you don't sleep on command (like me) get ready to hit a serious wall shortly after you leave the airport in Europe.

Going west isn't terrible, you just play it like your pulling a late night. This all depends what time of day/night you are flying of course.
 
I did a trip to Italy a number of years back, and echo Herbicide's suggestion. Ours was about a 10-12 hour trip including the layovers and we took a redeye leaving at maybe 10PM here. With the time difference, we got to Venice about 5:00 PM their time. A bit of time to get to the hotel and situated, grab some dinner and a little touring around, then off to bed.

After that, I reallly didn't feel any effects of jet lag at all.

The flight back killed me too. But ours was trouble filled with tons of delays. I think more than anything, travelling/vacations like these take alot out of you. I was in Italy for a little more than 3 weeks and really couldn't wait to get home. Like an idiot, I scheduled all this to get back on Sunday so I could work Monday -which was worthless. If you can, give yourself a day to recoup when you get back.
 
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For me West to East is a killer. Going over to Germany was a long, long, long day when we arrived. I think we left Iowa at like 1 or 2pm, then landed at about 7:00am European time. I worked a full day, had drinks in the evening, ate supper, drank a bit more and couldn't hardly function. :confused: Went to be at 9:00pm European time. I struggled for about 2 days before I felt good. On the way home (East to West) no issues at all. Landed in the late afternoon, ate some supper, went to bed and had a great next day.
 
cyclonelifer said:
Next year I am planning a trip to England. I started looking at the time difference (6 hours ahead of us) and began looking at jet lag.

Anybody travel to Europe and how did you deal with jet lag? Or did it bother you that much?

Thanks
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Here is what I do when going to london. Fly out at like 6pm, and take a benedryl and try to get as much sleep as you can. You will get there at like 6am, go to your hotel, drop off your luggage, grab your camera and go get a tube pass. Go sight see until your body just gives out. That is usually about 5pm for me. I go back, have dinner and hit the sack about 6-7pm, sleep for a solid 12 hrs, and the next day I am up at 7am and no signs of jet lag.

Coming back is easy, it is just a really long day.
 
cyclonelifer said:
Next year I am planning a trip to England. I started looking at the time difference (6 hours ahead of us) and began looking at jet lag.

Anybody travel to Europe and how did you deal with jet lag? Or did it bother you that much?

Thanks
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I've traveled overseas twice and am going to England on Friday! On my first day in Europe I am always extra tired and out of it. I don't plan a lot to do and plan on going to bed extra early that first night. After that I am usually just fine, as long as I am getting enough rest (which for me is more than usual when I am traveling). On the way home, I am usually pretty useless for the first couple of days, but am fine after that.
 
cyclonelifer said:
Next year I am planning a trip to England. I started looking at the time difference (6 hours ahead of us) and began looking at jet lag.

Anybody travel to Europe and how did you deal with jet lag? Or did it bother you that much?

Thanks
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Not a big deal, just plan around when you're getting there. If you're getting there in the morning/afternoon just stay up do some sightseeing or whatever and then go to bed an hour earlier than usual to get a good long nights sleep so you're ready for the next day. Oh BTW if you're going there in the summer, the sun might be setting later than you're used to.
 
Going West hardly effects me at all, whether it be to the west coast or returning from Europe. One trip back from Amsterdam was the same day as the Iowa FB game a few years back. I got off the plane at about noon and went straight to Ames, tailgated for several hours, went to game, went to bars after. I didn't miss a beat.

Going East I am fine after the first day. It gets easier every trip, you get "adjusted" to it. Nowadays for me its about the same as short night of sleep.
 
pulse said:
Oh BTW if you're going there in the summer, the sun might be setting later than you're used to.
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Wow, good point. I totally forgot to mention that. If you're going to England in the summer, and you're from Iowa, the sun will be setting WAAAAY later than you're used to. I was in Spain this summer (which is significantly south of England, in case you forgot :wink:) and I was still far enough north that the long daylight caught me by surprise. England will be much more so.
 
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