How do you beat JETLAG ?

[Nostromo]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:We always suffer for about a week when we come home, can't get to sleep until about 3am and so are exhausted by mid afternoon. [/quote]

About the only good thing in being my profession is that one gets so used to irregular patterns of sleep (and sometimes none at all) that jetlag seems a trivial problem in comparison. Unfortunately, we've got to be back at work 48 hours after landing back in the UK.

[Claire M]

Nostromo

I have landed at 7am and been back at work for 1pm the same day. Must admit jet lag wasn't an issue that time as I couldn't go to sleep because I was at work. My boss wouldn't let me have anymore time off work[msnmad].

Claire

[Floridalover]

I have to be back at work after getting off the flight tomorrow morning.....you get used to it. I'll collapse in bed tomorrow night not having had time to think about sleep and it tends to be the best sleep I get so its not all bad.[msnscared]

[chrisj]

Ive a few times landed and had to go straight to work, luckily the times this has happened
its been quiet with not too much work going on

This year we fly the red eye saturday night, and im due back Monday morning

[Nostromo]

Think of the poor pilots and stewardesses! They work and get jetlagged at the same time! No wonder they get all laid over [msnwink][msnwink]between flights.....I mean their "layovers" of course.

[Lyn]

I've never tried medication - might give it a go this year - I've tried every sleep pattern, staying up till bedtime, thought I might kill someone if they said anything out of place, going to bed till I woke up then couldn't sleep when I should. Found the best pattern for us is to go to bed as soon as we get in as long as that is around 8am and set the alarm for 1pm and make sure we then get up and try to behave normally (if I every behave normally).
We always set our watches to the local time of were we are going when we get on the plane, this does help.

Lyn

ps when we first went my son was 5 he cried for a week every night when we got back wanting to be back in Florida, this was partly due to the jet lag but it did not help my temper!! He also did it on our 2nd trip when he was 7 it's a miracle we ever went again.

[Floridalover]

I must confess.....when I travel for work I am fortunate enough to turn left at the aircraft door to go to my seat, I wouldn't do it as much as I do if I had to turn right[]

[benfilo]

hi all
My advice would be to have to kids who won't allow you to have a full nights sleep until they are 3 or 4 yrs old, just to get used to it.
I've been toying with the idea of getting up early for the last few days and going to bed earlier, it might not take so long to get back into UK time.
My wife's a night nurse like Kym so it doesn't seem to affect her

[orlandobabe]

I have been doing the melatonin for many years now-and it really does help.

Something else that helps is homeopathic cocculus. You should be able to get it here but if not-Chamberlins the proper health shop at the bottom of the John Young Parkway (The first shopping plaza after you've turned right off the 192) sell that and more.

Another thing to try that has been recommended is Pycnogenol -you can buy it here. It is supposed to be very effective against DVT-and unlike aspirin does not cause stomach bleeding. It's made from pine bark from the trees in SW France-it's high in anti-oxidants which prevents the blood platelets forming clots.

[caseyd]

I use melatonin when I travel internationally. I am a former nurse, and I do work related to pharmaceuticals and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Periodically I check the medical literature for reports of side effects and have not seen anything of concern to me. I also check the FDA's reports of adverse events, and although nutritional supplements are not regulated by FDA, they do get reports on those types of substances (even more so after the ephedra problems of last few yrs.) But I have not seen anything I considered a problem that would make me think twice about using it. If one was going to take it longer term, I would hesitate as these suplements are not regulated for safety as well as effectiveness, But I only use one dose per trip, that is all I need. I buy melatonin that is produced from a reputable manufacturer, as these nutritional supplements are not regulated for purity either; that is probably my biggest concern about these things. For example the problem several years ago with L-tryptophan that had impurities in it; it gave people a muscular disease. But again, that was longer term use, and the problem was limited to one manufacturer (or possible a few, they got the L-tryptophan from the same contaminated source though.) So I do think about these things, but the melatonin works so well, and I stay w/the reputable manufacturer's version, and I only need one dose, so I continue to use it once a year or so when I am traveling internationally.