Note: this is copied as-is from my post on the WFP intranet (my workplace)
The general tendency on long haul flights is to take things as they come: eating and drinking whatever junk gets pushed at you on the airline tray, and then when they switch the lights off, playing video games until you drop from exhaustion. The workshop that you will be expected to contribute to in the following days will pay the price of you being asleep half of the day, awake half of the night, and generally half asleep all the time.
Over the last few trips to the Americas (and back) I have developed a system to prevent jet lag. It takes your body some time to adapt to a completely different timezone so this system will support that process to speed it up, not to prevent it. It actually works very well and if you start 12 hours before the flight you will have adapted by 12 hours after arrival. Give it a try!
My solution is based on adapting your body to the new timezone starting from the night before leaving. The way you adapt is by controlling your caloric intake and blood sugars, your exposure to light and of course your sleeping hours if you can.
In practical terms, starting from the day before you leave:
1. Eat your meals at the time you will be eating them at your destination. Do not eat during the time that you should be sleeping at your destination. Easy and obvious if you think about it.
2. Wear dark sunglasses when it is dark at your destination, particularly when you would be asleep at your destination. Wear them indoors as well (yes I have been considered a jerk for wearing them even in dark airports, even having to be asked by border police to remove them for passport verification). Expose yourself to light when it is meant to be daytime at your destination, particularly when it is time to wake up. Use artificial light if necessary, the brighter the better. Remember to take off your sunglasses off when you should be in the light, of course.
3. The night before departure go to sleep very late or wake up very early to try to match the time of going to sleep or the time of waking up to that of your new timezone. This may mean that you only sleep 4 hours that night, but it's ok since you have a long flight during which you may rest. If you can't help being awake when you are meant to be sleeping (for example if you are queuing up in the airport) then keep your dark sunglasses on, and get into that frame of mind of knowing that you are meant to be asleep although you are not. Do you know that feeling of waiting at a hospital for a friend who had an emergency in the middle of the night, and you are fully aware that it is 3 am? or waiting at an airport for a relative to arrive in the middle of the night? ok, emulate that feeling.
If you do have to get a bit of sleep outside of the hours in which you should be sleeping, for example on the flight, then set your alarm to for 1 hour sleep. Refrain from sleeping at the waking up time, make sure you really wake up at the waking up time, turn on the light and eat a breakfast. Do not go back to sleep for while, you will sleep later.
During the next day refrain from using coffee to wake up if you feel sleepy, go for a walk instead.
Refrain from drinking alcohol to force yourself to sleep. It doesn't work. Drink it for pleasure instead :-)
Intellectual Copyright notice: You are free to use this system on the sole condition that you post your feedback below!
Thanks
PS: this text was written whilst trying to stay awake
The general tendency on long haul flights is to take things as they come: eating and drinking whatever junk gets pushed at you on the airline tray, and then when they switch the lights off, playing video games until you drop from exhaustion. The workshop that you will be expected to contribute to in the following days will pay the price of you being asleep half of the day, awake half of the night, and generally half asleep all the time.
Over the last few trips to the Americas (and back) I have developed a system to prevent jet lag. It takes your body some time to adapt to a completely different timezone so this system will support that process to speed it up, not to prevent it. It actually works very well and if you start 12 hours before the flight you will have adapted by 12 hours after arrival. Give it a try!
My solution is based on adapting your body to the new timezone starting from the night before leaving. The way you adapt is by controlling your caloric intake and blood sugars, your exposure to light and of course your sleeping hours if you can.
In practical terms, starting from the day before you leave:
1. Eat your meals at the time you will be eating them at your destination. Do not eat during the time that you should be sleeping at your destination. Easy and obvious if you think about it.
2. Wear dark sunglasses when it is dark at your destination, particularly when you would be asleep at your destination. Wear them indoors as well (yes I have been considered a jerk for wearing them even in dark airports, even having to be asked by border police to remove them for passport verification). Expose yourself to light when it is meant to be daytime at your destination, particularly when it is time to wake up. Use artificial light if necessary, the brighter the better. Remember to take off your sunglasses off when you should be in the light, of course.
3. The night before departure go to sleep very late or wake up very early to try to match the time of going to sleep or the time of waking up to that of your new timezone. This may mean that you only sleep 4 hours that night, but it's ok since you have a long flight during which you may rest. If you can't help being awake when you are meant to be sleeping (for example if you are queuing up in the airport) then keep your dark sunglasses on, and get into that frame of mind of knowing that you are meant to be asleep although you are not. Do you know that feeling of waiting at a hospital for a friend who had an emergency in the middle of the night, and you are fully aware that it is 3 am? or waiting at an airport for a relative to arrive in the middle of the night? ok, emulate that feeling.
If you do have to get a bit of sleep outside of the hours in which you should be sleeping, for example on the flight, then set your alarm to for 1 hour sleep. Refrain from sleeping at the waking up time, make sure you really wake up at the waking up time, turn on the light and eat a breakfast. Do not go back to sleep for while, you will sleep later.
During the next day refrain from using coffee to wake up if you feel sleepy, go for a walk instead.
Refrain from drinking alcohol to force yourself to sleep. It doesn't work. Drink it for pleasure instead :-)
Intellectual Copyright notice: You are free to use this system on the sole condition that you post your feedback below!
Thanks
PS: this text was written whilst trying to stay awake
