Work travel and jetlag/sleep problems

[EatYourFive]

I have to travel for work every couple of months and I really struggle with sleep when I have to travel long haul. I have no trouble falling asleep but I then wake up after just 2-3 hours and can't go back to sleep, this happens regardless of time zone.
When I was last in North America I bought some over the counter melatonin but it didn't help. Going a couple of days earlier doesn't help as I am then even more tired by the time I actually have to work and the work days are really full on, often 12-14 hours long and very intense. I also prefer not to be away too long as my kids are still fairly young. Avoiding alcohol also doesn't seem to make a difference.
I have another trip coming up in a couple of weeks and I'm dreading it.

Does anyone have any advice? I also have a GP appointment next week for something else, is there anything I could ask them to prescribe?

I have no trouble sleeping otherwise, only when travelling to Asia or America.

Have you tried the nap trick?
Be as normal, get to destination. Have a 3 hour sleep. But set alarm and get up as if it's the morning. Shower dressed. Stay up as late as possible to local time. Go to bed and get up as per new time zone

Thanks @SleekMamma. No haven't tried that, think that might help if you arrive early enough. With my next trip I think I will get to the hotel around 5-6 pm local time so there isn't much time for napping before dinner time.

Set your watch to local as soon as you get on the plane. I really have to work on not thinking about what time it would be at home and concentrate on the time where I am

I have the same issue with travelling to the US and Asia too. Like you I minimise my time away from the family so I don’t like to arrive early and I have the long working days.

My tips are to go outside when you arrive and get some sunlight on you as soon as you arrive. The next day try and get outside if you can (sometimes it’s tough to manage this on a busy trip).

Also, I just accept the jet lag and don’t stress about it. I know it’s going to happen and plan to read when I wake up. If you’re only getting 2 to 3 hours sleep aim for 4 to 5 hours. When I was working and my kids were babies I’d often have to go to having had little sleep.

Me and my colleagues travel a lot and we’re all getting terrible jet lag!

Thanks @MaverickGooseGoose I am really bad at that as always wondering what time it is at home and when to call the kids. But maybe I should just try not to do that, the kids seem to cope better when they don't speak to me anyway, especially the youngest.

@Bandol I think you're right, I just have to accept it. I always get all worked up when I wake up and it's 1 am, makes it even harder to try and sleep. Think I will take a book next time. Sometimes I try and do some work but the computer screen probably doesn't help so a book is probably a much better option.
Annoyingly most of my colleagues seem to cope much better than me, not sure why. So annoying when they tell you at breakfast how they 'only' slept for five hours.🙄😄

What about proper sleeping tablets? I mean not the naturally melatonin ones, but the nytol ones you get from behind the pharmacy counter. Those work for me when travelling. And you really do need to force yourself into a new routine. If arriving at 5-6pm, then try to stay up til 11pm. You will feel weird and out of it and have disrupted sleep for probably 2-3 days depending on the time change. Lots of coffee.

And definitely don't get up and work at 1am. Pop a sleeping pill and back to bed until 6-7am. Just lie there in the dark until you fall asleep.

Like a few round here I used to do a lot of long haul flying and ultimately I think many found it's tough to impossible to force their body clock towards local time, at anything more than maybe an hour or two of body clock shift a day..

Going westbound one tactic might be to try and power through and stay up late (local) but almost inevitably your body clock will be trying to wake you up well well before (local) breakfast time...I then used to do exactly this:

I just accept the jet lag and don’t stress about it. I know it’s going to happen and plan to read when I wake up.

Some colleagues found east bound changes easier but still not very easy.

So no magic solution I really can come up with but I used to find starting to get gripped about not sleeping actually potentially made the problem worse..

Good Luck.

I found east coast USA and Caribbean fine but the west coast USA and Asia very challenging. Asia (Japan) particularly and had almost no sleep for four weeks when there and then when I got back until I went to the doctor as by then I had insomnia and he gave me some sleeping tablet Zopiclone I took two nights and it totally reset me.

Australia bizarrely was OK.

Also the pharmacist gave me a trick which was to avoid light at night as it stimulated serotonin so if you get up for a wee don't run the light on. I now travel with a nightlight.

My gp prescribes zopiclone. Get a full nights sleep on flight and work on arrival. But I fly to Africa so no real jet lag.

I find that going to local time and powering in through to their bedtime helps me.

Thanks @mindutopia , I will give Nytol a go unless the GP agrees to prescribe something else. I once got a couple prescription tablets from a colleague who suffers from insomnia and they made such a difference. But of course it's best not to take someone else's prescription meds but I was really desperate!

@notimagain thanks for your input. I always have dinner and stay up until bedtime local time when I go to the US but I still wake up 5-6 am UK time without a fail. Really have to learn to not stress about it.

@QueenMabs four weeks without sleep sounds horrendous!! I usually go to Singapore or Thailand when travelling east and only stay 3-5 nights so don't have much time to adjust. I also try and keep the lights off during night-time toilet trips, it's been many a time when I have failed to find the sink or even the toilet door in a dark hotel room so may have to invest in a nightlight!

Thanks @Whyarepeoplesojudgemental and @CurlyGirlMummafor your input. I might ask the GP about zopiclone.

Try Jet Candy ....

My friend who travels a lot recommended Nytol. I take one before bed and although I do wake up at odd hours, I can go for a wee and then go back to sleep. It really helped on my last trip to Asia where I took them for the first 3 nights of a 2 week trip.

ive just googled this and quite interested but can you tell me more about it i dont always beleive blub on a website

I have only tried it once when coming back from the USA it was pre covid and it worked for me... I had a sample. I just didnt have that heavy head not attached to shoulders feeling - and I got over it all quicker. I had been doing a fair few TransAtlantics , NOt been further with it though and I used it coming back not going out as I can handle that much better ( well could)

@EatYourFive

Hi again..

. I always have dinner and stay up until bedtime local time when I go to the US but I still wake up 5-6 am UK time without a fail.....

That sounds a bit grim (especially if on the west coast 😮), I feel your pain.

I've heard there's a bit of a theory about night one in unusual beds tending to result in poor sleep anyway (a being in strange territory thing )..so add that to time change and ..........

We used to occasionally get some advice at our workplace on all this which usually went along the lines of that if you wanted to try to get back to sleep:

Avoid any screens and bright lights (already mentioned).

If you still found yourself awake and clockwatching then after 30-45 minutes the advice then was to stop trying, actually get out of bed, get dressed and maybe sit and read a book in a comfy chair, if you had one.....

Can't say it always worked for me...