How to cope with jetlag. Secrets and tips.
Question
Q: Can you help with how to cope with jetlag. Do you have some secrets and tips. After long haul flights I have always had problems with jetlag, often for several days, before my body has adopted to a new time zone, also when I occasion have managed to sleep during the flight. But what about crew on long haul flights? They can’t like passengers, just lie down and sleep, so they must too suffer from crossing many time zones. Often, especially from Europe to South Asia, the flights are through the night. I wonder how the crew and pilots can manage to become fit for the next flights after a layover going back. I have heard that on the more extended flights up to 17 hours, the crew takes turns at inflight rest.
Answer
A: Thank you for your question about with how to cope with jetlag. We will be happy to share our secrets and tips.
How you experience jetlag is highly depending on discipline, knowledge and personal circumstances.
Help with how to cope with jetlag and secrets and tips:
Discipline.
When planning for a flight that crosses many timezones, it is important to prepare your body for the time difference. You can help yourself by minimizing the time difference before you leave.
Here is an example :
- You normally go to bed at 2300 UK time.
- Your next trip is to Thailand, where the time difference is +7 hours to UK time.
- You leave the UK in the evening.
- You arrive in Thailand at 11.00 AM (Thailand local time – 04.00 AM UK time)
The days before the trip we will recommend you to gradually go to bed later and later. This way you prepare your body for the night flight.
When you arrive in Thailand at the hotel, it is very tempting to just jump into bed and sleep 8 hours from 11.00 to 19.00 local. Do not do that as that will get you in trouble.
What do is to minimize the sleep after you arrive to maximum 4 hours, from 11.00 to 15.00. You will of course be tired when the alarm rings, but a swim or other physical activity keeps you fresh. After this you will be awake from 15.00 to 02.00 local, making it 19.00 UK time. You will have no problems sleeping now with the minimum rest you had.
As you can see it takes planning and discipline.
Knowledge.
The classic mistake is having food that it is very heavy for our digestion. When consumed at a time of the day where your body thinks it should be sleeping, it can throw you off balance. The odds of having a good nights sleep after at big steak, spareribs or chicken wings, when it is 0400 in the morning (the timezone you left) is close to zero.
Another classic mistake is waking up in Mexico at 03.00 local Mexican time and be starving! The reason you do this is because your “eating schedule” is still stuck on Europe time. To avoid this it is important to eat before you go to bed in Mexico. It feels weird, but it will help you. You may also want to have something that is really easy to make on standby for that 0300 waking up. Oats in a cup can be a good idea. All you need is some hot water and a spoon.
On the short lay overs, as your question suggests, it is about keeping the time zone you came from. Or at least make sure to optimize your rest before the return flight.
The technique going East or West are different.
Relevant for both going East or West, is knowledge about how we get our body to work for us and not against us.
Knowing your own body is key. Pills like Melatonin could help you sleep, but many Aviation companies do not allow their use. The same goes for sleeping pills. Whatever pills you decide to take, be careful.
Coffee before you go to bed is also not recommended. The effects of caffeine will linger in most people for 4-6 hours, but a good cup will help a lot at the right time!
Personal circumstances.
There are of course sometimes problems with getting the best sleep. A quick run, yoga will do the trick to keep you awake and it may leave you in a better position to sleep after you have done it. Never try to force sleep by thinking “I must sleep!”. Your body will resist such panic and work against you. A book that is not too exiting might help.
On the very long flights it is correct that we have additional crew and we have access to rest. Rest periods are typically 3-4 hours. It is important you prepare for such rest and not just lie and stare into the air. This will not help, quite the contrary.
A question we often get is if it is hard as a pilot to cope with the working shifts. The answer is not always easy to give. Something like coping with time changes come naturally for some and they will find it easy. For those that have difficulties adjusting their day rythm being a pilot is going to be hard. Even if you do not fly long distance flights. In the aviation industry you can expect to work at all times of the day and changing from morning to late flights is something that happens in a lot of companies.
One thing that can add to challenges with jet lag is of course if you have a fear of flying and that you cannot rest as a result. Fear of flying is topic we have written a lot about and you can also find some guidance and help here:
https://askapilot.net/product/from-flight-anxiety-to-happy-flyer/
Best regards
Ask a Pilot.
