Jet Lag

[Aquamarinejewel]

How badly does jet lag affect you?

I find in my experiences that whenever I travel out of Australia - getting to my destination I don't seem to get the jet lag, I try and sleep on the plane at the times I would normally sleep at. Coming home back to Australia it's a different story sometimes it takes me about a week to get over the jet lag.

 

[Pantsless]

How badly does jet lag affect you?

I find in my experiences that whenever I travel out of Australia - getting to my destination I don't seem to get the jet lag, I try and sleep on the plane at the times I would normally sleep at. Coming home back to Australia it's a different story sometimes it takes me about a week to get over the jet lag.

On my first long haul flight from Fiji to Dublin, I arrived in Dublin after a 34 hour trip and having hardly slept. Over the next 6 days I had bizarre hours and being wide awake in Ireland at 3am when RTE is closed isn't nice!

I flew from Syd - Lon. Arrived at 6am London time and went home and was awake until about 1pm. Thought I would go to bed as I "must be tired" and lied there wide awake and ended you getting up. No tiredness at all.

I'm able to manage it now as I try to adjust before I go. Seems to work for me.

 

[Leon]

I am very bad with jet lag, although I'm worse on arrival overseas rather than on return to Australia.

I find it virtually impossible to sleep on the plane, just can't do it in a cramped economy class seat with limited leg room.

On one overseas trip many years ago to America, I was flying to New York and had stopped over in Los Angeles for a couple of hours for the connecting flight. No sleep on the plane, but then I fell fast asleep in the transit lounge for an hour or so - not a good thing to do. By the time I got to New York I was a wreck - I got to the hotel at about 4.30 and was out like I'd had a general anesthetic. I didn't wake up until 11am the next day. The long sleep didn't make me feel any better - quite the opposite. I was tired again by about 5pm, fell asleep again but then woke up at 1am wide awake.

The lesson from the above? On arrival, when you feel tired, stay awake. About a year after this trip, I went to London, again no sleep on the plane but when I got there although I was dead beat I did everything to stay awake as long as I could - went for a walk, did a bus tour of London, and made it until 8.30pm and then went to sleep. Within about a day or so I was adjusted to London's time.

The initial day trying to adjust was difficult but it is much worse if you initially cave in to your body's desire for sleep at the wrong hours.

 

[year of the roo]

I have found that trying to adjust to your destination's time zone before you leave works quite well. I am leaving for London soon, hence why I am up at this ungodly hour.

I also have trouble sleeping on planes, so I have found that a combination of sleeping pills and severe deprivation of sleep works a treat for me.

 

[utility]

Normally it isn't too big of deal for me. I seem to adjust well to different times, though now and then I just crash. For example, a few months ago I flew Munich -> London -> Vancouver -> Honolulu (connecting flights), waking up at about 5am (German time) after a bad night and got to sleep at about 5am (Pacific time). Woke up at 9am, walked around a bit, decided to take a 'nap' at noon... didn't wake up until after 9pm! The others in my room were worried I had kicked the bucket.

I always wear ear plugs on long-ish flights... makes sleeping a lot easier.

 

[HBF]

Haven't travelled very much overseas, but I find going to Perth bad enough from Melbourne, especially when Daylight savings is happening.

I flew over there last week and arrived in Perth and 11:30pm local time, took half an hour to get a cab and then checked into the hotel, and eventually got into bed around 1am local time, which 3am Melbourne time. I was stuffed on Thursday, but after a good nights sleep Thursday night, Friday i was ok.

Coming back to Melbourne seems to be much easier for me, and I don't really suffer from any Jet Lag. Don't know why, maybe it's becuase i kinda keep a mental note of what time it is in Melbourne most of the time.

 

[Kahuna]

Get absolutely smashed on your flight and I can assure you, you will wake up at 8am perfectly normal.

 

[raskolnikov]

The worst I ever had it was when I went to London. I had been awake since about 6am. My flight from Melbourne left at about 10pm. I didn't sleep at all on the plane on the way over, including a short stopover in Thailand and arrived in London at 9am, meaning I had to try and stay awake all day, meaning I had been awake for about 36 hours. I crashed at about 5.30 and didn't wake up til about 9 the next morning. However that day I was fine.

 

[Star]

I have found that trying to adjust to your destination's time zone before you leave works quite well. I am leaving for London soon, hence why I am up at this ungodly hour.

I also have trouble sleeping on planes, so I have found that a combination of sleeping pills and severe deprivation of sleep works a treat for me.

I also have trouble sleeping on planes.

I tried sleeping tablets once from Thailand to Melbourne. Took me about 4 hours to get to sleep and only then lasted 2-3 hours. I was absolutely wrecked when I got home. I welcome all of these tips.

 

[Shell]

Haven't travelled very much overseas, but I find going to Perth bad enough from Melbourne, especially when Daylight savings is happening.
QUOTE]

That, my friend is nothing!

Anyway, i agree with a couple of the other posters. Flying overseas, i dont get jet lag, but coming back to Australia, i had jet lag for about a week and a half.

Also went to Michigan, and had an 8 hour stopover in LA! (went to Santa Monica beach for a couple hours, rather than hanging around the airport).. anyway, cannot sleep at all on planes, so considering i didnt get much sleep on my last night in Melbourne, i was an absloute wreck on the flight to Chicago. I think its been the closest ever i have been to having a nervous breakdown!

I love flying (the concept of being waited on hand and foot, watching movies '24/7').. but it really does take it out of ya!

Any words of advice of getting a complete whinger of a mate to come here from London! Wants to come to Oz, but hates the idea of the 24 hour flight!

 

[iDon]

It affected me badly in 2004 after returning from a year abroad.

Woke up first night back at 130am after going to bed at 3pm and was up all night. Next day struggled all day and crashed again at 3pm but this time slept till 10am the next day. After that i was sweet

-Mav

 

[Fraser]

When I fly from Melb to NY I find it very easy. Maybe the first few days i'm really tired around 6-7pm but can last to mid-night before sleeping.

Comming back to Melbourne is a completely different story. Usually takes me at least 2 weeks to adjust. I find myself struggeling to keep awake around 8ish then by 9pm im dead and wide awake at 5am in the morning. It's like converting from night shift to day shift in a couple of days.

 

[Lidge]

Not always 100% effective, but these tips work for me more often than not on long haul flights (ie USA or Europe).

Plan A

(i) Pick a flight which has an early arrival time (7am ideal - local time)
(ii) Stay awake during the flight. Watch the first couple of movies, read a book etc.
(iii) If travelling to Europe, have a shower in Singapore/Bangkok to freshen up
(iv) If travelling to Europe, don't crash until you've flown over/past India (at the earliest)
(v) If travelling to LAX - wait until Hawaii before crashing out

The trick is, you'll get a few hours decent sleep and wake up on local time. Not feeling great, but OK.

Plan B

If that doesn't work (i.e sitting in bulkhead with kids near you, or in an exit aisle near the dunnies etc) drink, take some pills do what ever, sleep when you can. On arrival tough it out and do not go to bed before 8.30pm local time. You should sleep pretty well and jet lag should be a non issue.

I normally get away with the 1st option, out of necessity, as I don't usually have the luxury of taking a few days to get over long flights. More often than not I need to fly into London and out within a week.

Plan C

Coming home is usually the toughest on the body. If you can - use your points and upgrade to Business Class from Singapore to Australia. Those inflight beds are absolutely magnificent!

Good luck