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The human body is a delicately tuned machine with periods and cycles that are as accurately times as any swiss watch. When we mess with that timing, the body lets its dissatisfaction be known in a big way – sleeplessness, lethargy, depression trouble concentrating -- aven diarrhea for some people.
Those are the symptoms of jet lag, and jet lag is all about timing.
Jet lag is a major concern for millions of people whose jobs require them to have a clear mind and high energy. But knocking the body’s clock off by a three-hour time change results in anything but a clear head and energetic body. The key is to prepare the body for the sudden adjustment is time. A scientifically proven way to do that is with a special diet and certain mental adjustments of attitude and time.
Here is an outline of a plan that will prepare your for a three hour time changing flight across country.
- First, change your caffeine habits. Three days before your trip, stop drinking any kind of caffeine beverage except for between the hours of 3 a .m. and 4:30 p.m. One day before the flight, take caffeine only between 7 and 8 a.m. On the day of the flight, drink 2 to 3 cups of strong coffee, but do it no later than 11:30 a.m. Have no more caffeine the rest of the day.
- Three days before your trip, reset your watch to the new time to start mentally acclimating yourself to the new time. Also try to stay mentally active in the half-hour immediately preceding breakfast time at your destination.
- Do not have breakfast with everyone else on the plane. Instead, arrange to have breakfast at the breakfast time of your destination, in this case, soon before you land.
- Eat a big lunch at your destination. Even if you arrive at your destination in the morning, you should not eat until lunchtime. (Eat breakfast on the plane just before you and.)When you do eat lunch later, eat big.
Other tips:
Never drink alcohol on the airplane. This really confuses your body clock. Don’t nap. Keep yourself awake until it’s normal bedtime at your destination. Avoid stimulants, such as Vivarin or NoDoz, they’ll just screw you up more.
If you can, leave a day or two before you have to conduct business. You’ll have a couple of days to readjust to the new time system.
Finally, be social. When you get to your destination, take part in all the daily events as if you got up at your normal time in that location that day. You may be tempted to take a nap instead to “catch up: but that will only mess with your body clock. The first day of jet lag is the worst. If you fight your desire to nap or take stimulants, you’ll only draw the effect out.
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