What's your miracle cure?

[sammibabe]

I have searched previous posts to find cures for jet lag but wondered if there were any new ones. I'm ok going out but coming back last time it seemed to take forever getting over it. I didn't sleep once we woke up on the plane and went to bed normal time. Please help!

[Kazzie]

Melatonin is the answer. You can buy it in Walmart, Publix ect. Take one tablet every night for 5 nights (one night for each hour of the time difference). It works a treat and I swear by it.[msnsmile2]

[Southsider]

You can buy Melatonin tablets, they sell them in Walmart and they help with the jetlag.

Opps............we must have been typing at the same time Kazzie!!

[TrishT]

stay up drinking the first few nights for as long as you can, you'll never know what hit you by the 3rd

back to normal on the 4th day

[Sally D]

Yes Melatonin works a treat.

We always suffered with jetlag when we got back, usually a week to get back to normal but last time we got Melatonin in Walgreens and was back to normal in 2 days[clap]

You will find them in the vitamin section.

[sammibabe]

Thanks guys. Will try melatonin and hopefully won't feel like death warmed up for a couple of weeks.

[steph_goodrum]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by sammibabe
I have searched previous posts to find cures for jet lag but wondered if there were any new ones. I'm ok going out but coming back last time it seemed to take forever getting over it. I didn't sleep once we woke up on the plane and went to bed normal time. Please help!
[/quote]
Apparently it's to do with the time differential when you are travelling east to west you don't get jet lag but when you are travelling west to east you can/do.

[ellieboxer]

Hi
Take a transatlantic cruise back to the UK....................
you have no jet lag, but you weigh about 10lbs extra ! [msnembarrased]
We have done this twice and its great, especially Bermuda [8D]
Ellie

[sammibabe]

Unfortunately, Trish and Marcus I cannot try your cure as I am teetotal (seriously bad, bad hangover about 6 years ago that I can remember like yesterday) but it pleases DH as I drive when we go out so he may well try this approach[msnwink]

[Snapper]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by steph_goodrum
Apparently it's to do with the time differential when you are travelling east to west you don't get jet lag but when you are travelling west to east you can/do.[/quote]
I think you are right Steph. I read somewhere that our bodies work on a 25 hour clock, rather than 24 hours as one might expect. This tends to make it feel easier to stay up an hour later but also makes it harder to wake up an hour earlier. It also makes it nigh on impossible to go to sleep an hour earlier (unless extremely tired). This is why most people tend not to get jet lag as bad when flying west as it's akin to staying up for an extra few hours. Our bodies get back into kilter much quicker if it involves staying up. Flying east is just the opposite, which is why we tend to suffer more in this direction.

That's the science, but sadly I don't know of a cure. Melatonin is supposed to work by tricking your brain to reset the time it thinks it should be doing to sleep; so you can sleep on the plane on the way back to England and when you wake up your body thinks everything is normal. It would also help to be really tired at the point the flight leaves so having some really early morning wakeups for three or four days prior to the flight would help. (Personally I think I'd sooner lie in and suffer the jetlag [msnwink]) Another suggestion I've heard is to grab a shower as soon as possible after you land, again to try to fool your body into believing that it is your normal routine.

I know this is going to sound really daft but the times I've had the least jetlag are when we've flown back from Florida and I've gone straight into an office the following morning. I'm knackered the following evening but it all seems to work out after a day or two.

I guess the perfect way to avoid jetlag on the way back from Florida would be to fly via LA or San Fran, and then have a week in Hawaii, and then a few nights in Hong Kong, or Singapore, and then Dubai, with maybe a short stopover in Spain for a bit of paella. That should do it! [msnwink]