Jetlag, recovery & kids

[TulipsNZ]

At the end of our trip we fly home from LA to Auckland and on return receive back our 3 younger kids who will not be jetlagged or tired. How jetlagged are most people on return? Any tips to help?

 

[BecBennett]

I'm never jetlagged when I get home, only for the first 2 days on the way there.

 

[zanzibar138]

Personally I don't seem to suffer jetlag, and am able to get straight into the time zone of wherever I am for eating and sleeping. I do, however, suffer from the usual exhaustion that comes with travel and overnight flights. A decent night's sleep (or a short nap if it's still early) is usually all it takes to get me over the worst of that.

My dad, on the other hand, suffers quite badly with jetlag. It takes him about a week to get into a new time zone. I believe for some people it's worse one way than the other.

I guess my point is everyone is different. Sadly, it's really nothing you can be prepared for until you've experienced it first hand.

However you end up reacting to jetlag, the absolute best thing you can do for your body is to immediately go by the new time. If you arrive early in the morning and you just can't keep your eyes open because you didn't get any sleep on the plane (happened to me on our first trip), allow yourself a short nap. Set a timer for 1-2 hours, then get up and do something. If it's after lunch already, DO NOT nap. Just stay up as late as you can that night (we watched the fireworks from the hotel, then went to bed). Don't allow yourself to sleep in or nap in the afternoons until you have adjusted to the time zone.

Make sure you eat according to the new time zone too, as that will help your body to get into a new routine.

 

[Aussiefamof5]

We all tend to adjust quiet well to USA time I find by not resting till bedtime on our arrival day helps but I find I'm usually at the gym at 3am !!!! However on return to australia we all tend to be really sluggish and have brain fog quiet badly, it just takes a few days usually all the welcome home laundry keeps me occupied lol

 

[dollarmite]

Most of my flights into LA have arrived late morning/early afternoon. Normally, an early night (maybe even as early as 4pm or 5pm) is all it takes, and I am/we are ready to go the next morning. We might be a little tired but nothing major.

On our last trip we flew from Brisbane to New York in one hit. I think we dozed on the LA-NY flight (kids slept), arriving at about 8pm. We went straight to bed when we got to the hotel and were ready to hit the sites the next morning.

Coming home can be a bit different. I think all my direct flights from LA have arrived into Brisbane around breakfast time. I'm usually asleep at home by about lunchtime and sleep until the next morning. It might take a day or two to get back into a normal sleeping pattern but that could also be due to not having anything exciting (eg Disneyland!) to get up for the day after the flight.

Generally, I just follow what my body tells me - there's no way to fight it if it's demanding sleep. Oddly, I found flights from the US to UK/Europe take a bigger toll even though the flights are shorter. If I arrive in London at 6am and my body is demanding sleep by 10am, then that's what I do.

But overall, it just takes a night's sleep and things are fine the next morning.

I have to confess the first time I flew from Auckland to LA (at age 20) was a real shock to my system. I'd regularly flown between Australia and NZ, but onto LA was a different thing altogether.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Like others, I don't usually get jetlagged but I do get sluggish and tired from the flight and trip.

In saying that, I did suffer from extreme jet lag once doing a return trip from London to Las Vegas. Jetlag hit both DH and I like a ton of bricks and we have never been so tired in our lives.

The time zone difference between LA and NZ is not too bad. I think you will find the transition from London time to LA time trickier. At least you have a break in Canada to help with the adjustment.