How to Beat Jet Lag: What Actually Works on Long-Haul Flights

Jet lag is not tiredness. It is your body clock running on the wrong time zone. You can sleep a full night and still wake at three in the morning wide awake, or feel foggy at lunch because your body thinks it is midnight. The good news is that the clock can be moved, and it responds to a few simple signals. Here is how to beat jet lag without gadgets or guesswork.

Why flying east feels worse

Your internal clock naturally runs a little longer than 24 hours. That makes it easier to stay up later than to go to bed earlier. Flying west, from London to New York for example, asks you to stay up a few hours longer, which most people manage. Flying east asks you to fall asleep before your body is ready, and that is much harder.

A common rule of thumb is that the body adjusts by about one hour a day on its own. Cross six time zones and, without help, you can feel off for most of a week. With the steps below, you can cut that down a lot.

Before you fly

1. Shift a little. For three or four days before an eastbound trip, go to bed and get up 30 to 60 minutes earlier each day. Going west, shift later instead.
2. Pick your flight with care. On long eastbound routes, an overnight flight that lands in the morning lets you sleep on board and start the day on local time.
3. Sleep well the night before. Starting the trip already short on sleep makes everything worse.
4. Set your watch to the destination as soon as you board, and start thinking in local time.

On the plane

Treat the flight as the first part of the new day, not a break from it. If it is night at your destination, sleep. Eye mask, earplugs or noise-cancelling headphones, and a layer you can pull on when the cabin gets cold. If it is daytime there, stay awake, keep the shade up if you can, and watch something.

Drink water steadily. Cabin air is dry. Go easy on alcohol, which makes sleep lighter and the next morning worse. Coffee is fine early in your new day, but stop by early afternoon local time.

The flight is not a pause. It is day one in the new time zone.

When you land: use light

Light is the strongest signal your body clock has. Get it at the right time and you speed up the adjustment. Get it at the wrong time and you slow it down.

• After flying east, get bright light in the morning. Go for a walk, eat breakfast outside, sit by a window.
• After flying west, get light in the late afternoon and early evening, and keep the mornings softer.
• Outdoor light beats indoor light by a long way, even on a cloudy day.

Then eat your meals on local time, even if you are not hungry. Meal times are another cue your body uses to tell what time it is.

The first night

Stay up until at least nine or ten local time. If you really need a nap in the afternoon, keep it to 20 or 30 minutes and set an alarm. A long afternoon sleep is the most common reason people are awake at three the next morning.

Some travellers use melatonin to help them fall asleep earlier after flying east. If you are thinking about it, speak to a doctor or pharmacist first, especially if you take other medication. The rules on buying it also differ from country to country.

Short trips are different

If you are only away for two or three days, it can make sense not to adjust at all. Stay roughly on home time, schedule the important meetings for when you would naturally be awake, and recover once you get back. Trying to switch over and back in 72 hours often leaves you tired at both ends.

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The short version

1. Shift your sleep a little before you go.
2. Live on destination time from the moment you board.
3. Water yes, alcohol no, caffeine only early.
4. Morning light after flying east, evening light after flying west.
5. No long naps, and stay up until a normal bedtime.

None of this is complicated. It just takes a couple of days of discipline, and the reward is a trip where you are actually awake for the parts that matter.