Who does not know that feeling like “OMG, I just came from Europe (US, Dubai…), meeting starts but I WANT to sleep!”. And, later in the hotel room, can’t sleep at all – luckily we’ve got always ‘few’ emails to read. Alternatively (even worse) our dreamed-of-summer-holidays-in-far-away-lands just starting but the first three days are trashed by fatigue causing us sleeping on the beach (not that bad unless you’ve got two toddlers in the tow…) and then reading books after midnight.

Sometimes we manage better and sometimes worse, however we rarely observe and keep track of what we have done to feel all right in some cases and exhausted in other. Let’s explore what are the options how to beat jet lag on our travels.

The following works for me:

• Sleep on the way in the plane as much as possible, avoid too much alcohol to arrive fresh.
• Not to think in the ‘previous’ time-zone, immediately switch watch to the new one (I don’t use any watch so iPhone does it for me automatically).
• Have occasional glass of red wine in the evening to help fall asleep gently…
• Exercise in the morning, get blood flowing and the heart pumping always wakes me up. 10 minutes are usually enough. Example here: Morning Stretching video.

What works for you? Please share in the comments so that other readers can benefit too. I will later compile all the information into a useful summary.

In case you like to read more about how to beat jet lag >> here is an interesting article. Who else can better recommend strategies and tactics than airline pilots? The author includes more tips e.g. melatonin supplements or how to stay in your home timezone for the entire trip: BBC Future by Katia Moskvitch.

Have a great vacation or business travel, enjoy the ride,
Dan

PS: Another way how to keep yourself energized is a regular morning routine, regardless to your location. Here is one of my earlier videos with 7 Steps of Healthy Morning Routine.