jetlag

[misspickle]

best cure for jetlag It always gets me, the first 3 days are awful.

Thanks in advance x

 

[cliveywolves]

We must be lucky we only feel it when we get back to UK, once we arrive on day one we just treat everything as U.S. time forget that we've been up for 18 hours we just troop on thru till bedtime, then up at 8am and off to the parks ..

 

[scoobydooby]

We are okay too on the way out apart from generally hitting 'the wall' about 2pm that first day but a swim always cures that. The return though. I am generally a wreck for a full week afterwards. Just have to power through it till it passes. I try and stay awake once we get home around 12pm but always sleep while DH drives us home. I can't help it!

 

[2Tiggies]

There's not really a cure. Only prevention or ways to reduce the effects.

It's unusual to suffer on the outbound, but the same measures for prevention would help both ways, I'd imagine.

Try staying up later when you arrive and going to bed at the time you usually would in the UK. It makes for a long day on arrival/travel day, but it goes a long way to reset your body clock. You'll probably be ready to call it a day earlier on the first day or two, but you can work your plans around that.

Meal times also send triggers to the brain to tell your body where you are in the day. From when you arrive at the airport on departure day, start thinking and working in the time zone of your destination. So if it's lunch time in the UK, but breakfast time in the US, eat breakfast. If you are lucky enough to be able to sleep on a flight, this will help somewhat, too.

 

[Jon84]

We only suffer when we get home usually.

On the way out we have a few drinks at Gatwick, and a couple more on the plane. Sleep for a few hours then just stay up till about midnight after making sure we've eaten an evening meal.

In December on our first day we were wide awake at 5am, so got up and just had a regular park day (am at MK and pm at Universal). Then had a relaxing evening the first night.

 

[Kath2003]

Going out there, you will just wake up early on the first morning, so later will get sleepy early on the first day. Just don't plan a late night (and make the most of being up at the crack of dawn!)

Coming back - not so much jet lagged but tired because you'll have "lost" 5 hours overnight. We are usually back at work the next day and find that, other than feeling hungry at weird times, we are just a bit tired, especially in the mornings (this is where "prep" before you go, like making sure everything is ready to go at work, helps!). Getting on with it and back to normal ASAP is best. Don't worry or think about it and you'll barely notice.

 

[ABZDisneyFan]

I used to to do one or two trips a month to the States, usually three to four days but sometimes it was one or two then straight back to the UK.
I used to stay up as late as I could when I arrived & then power through the next few days, if I was only there for a short time that worked well & I would sleep on the way back, I usually flew in business or first class so could stretch out.

Thankfully those days are in the past & trips to the States now are generally for holidays, the last few times we have gone over we have used the same strategy which is snooze for a couple of hours on the way over, unpack when we get to the hotel then head out for a quick bite to eat & some drinks, we can normally keep going till midnight then crash, we do find ourselves struggling by about 10pm on the first couple of days but after that we are fine.
We don't have kids, so we fly in business class which does make a huge difference particularly on the way back, we crash out straight after dinner & that's us until they serve breakfast.
The first day back is usually not great but we are usually over it by day two.
Each person is different, avoid excess alcohol especially on the way back, a couple of drinks are fine but the worst thing you can do is drink your way over the atlantic on the way back, I've done it a few time when I was younger & although it's great fun at the time when the hangover & jetlag kick in together it's the worst feeling in the world wherever you happen to be sitting in the plane.

 

[Tash87]

We don't usually suffer from jet lag when we start our holiday, we are awake at 4 am but like someone else said...make the most out of being awake early and get to MK for rope drop.

On the other hand when we return we suffer bad! As we have young children we don't get a chance to nap. They are able to sleep on the plane home (night flight) but me and DH stay wide awake . So by the time we get to bed at home we have been awake for 40 hours. Last time I was hallucinating . But I find that's the way to get over it quicker....to adapt to UK time as fast as possible, the kids don't give us a choice in that.

 

[misspickle]

I'll just have to plod along I do what most of you guys are saying...

 

[wayneg]

Never had a problem going out, I stay up til as near as poss to midnight then get up around 7 or 8am and usually OK, maybe a couple of early nights to start off.
Coming home the older I get the harder it is getting, never really suffered with it til about 5 years ago, now I really struggle for about a week.

 

[BagOLaughs]

We don't get jet lag on the way over but I get it really badly when back in UK.

My advise which helps me, If you can try and sleep as much as you can on the flight back.

I personally take herbal sleeping pills. Its an 8 hour flight and that's how long the medication works for. But if you're driving when you get back to the UK, give it a miss.