Jetlag- tips! Anyone tried melatonin?

[erebus]

We are flying east to west (London to Singapore). It is a 13 hour flight, we leave at noon London time and arrive 8am Singapore time- when our bodies are telling us it's 1 am! Eek!

Any tips?

People have suggested melatonin to help us sleep on the plane but I gather you can only get it in prescription in the UK (it's over the counter in the US!). Any experience?

Yes I used to use it regularly - it does help a lot but you have to take it for five days at bedtime when you should be sleepy.

I bought it online - they ship it to the UK. Not strictly illegal but also a grey area.

Just stay awake when you land as much as you can and then go to bed and you should hopefully sleep.

Don't get this using drugs thing for jetlag.

Ok the best ever tip I've had for jet leg is this:

1/ Don't eat much on the plane (if at all) they will most likely feed you at least twice and this will only serve to confuse your body. Have a decent breakfast and then have a light snack on board (crackers or fruit). Try to sleep as much as possible :)

2/ On arrival you will be very, very tired but do not give in to the temptation to sleep for a few hours. When you get to your hotel have a nap for maximum 1 hour.

3/ Go out and sight see and have an evening meal in Singapore. You should be able to stay awake until 9pm when you can go to bed for a proper sleep.

I have tried a lot of remedies and this really did they trick when we flew to Japan.

Tip from a pilot friend of mine which worked for me when I used to frequently fly long haul on business (this also worked for DH) - switch on to local destination time when you leave for the airport and stick to it as far as meals and sleeps go as much as you can on the flight - I find that a stiff drink, comfortable eyemask & earplugs help me sleep through the wakeful period that airlines try to enforce on you.

Wakarimasen gives good advice - make sure you don't nap for longer than an hour or so and then get up and spend some time in daylight, then eat a hearty meal and get an early night. If you do wake in the night - watch TV or listen to your ipod or similar until you fall asleep. But .... don't lie-in the following morning, get up early (before 9) and get on with your day!

I continue to suffer terribly from jet lag, but east to west is my big problem. IME, if you do suffer, you'll probably get over it in 48 hours max.

It's easily obtainable as a food supplement from Amazon. There are different strengths and some are slow release which you probably wont need. It's abit hit and miss though. Some people have great effects from it immediately while others have to use it for a week or so before they feel the effects. So trial and error here really. DS3 has it prescribed for health reasons and it has a good effect on him. He's on a small dose though, 1mg. Adults would require a higher dose of about 3-5mg. Hope this helps.