Long haul and jetlag

[wiffin]

We are taking the long haul plunge this year, which is very exciting, and am thinking how to manage jetlag.

We leave at breakfast, arrive at breakfast the next day. 14 hour flight. So will probably feel like we miss a nights sleep.

Any top tips? DC are teenagers so in-flight entertainment will mainly be screens.

Try and stick to the local time, so have a lazy day but no heavy naps and then get an early night. We generally find this gets us in the right track.

Take melatonin (if you can get hold of it) at the bed time you’re acclimatising to. Get daylight and sunshine if you can when you get to the destination to help your body adjust

@wiffin How long is the actual flight? 14 hours is usually Chile non stop. It’s not the length of flight that really matters, it’s how far east or west you are away from GMT or BST. Going south to, say, South Africa or Argentina, the time changes are negligible. So not much to recover from. Also, do you have a stop? Where are you going?

We have found we don’t do much the next day. Definitely try and adjust sleep and eating to local time. Sleep longer if you need to. However breakfast to breakfast sounds manageable to me.

When I flew from Seattle to London I had the first meal and then put on an eye mask and earplugs and tried to sleep for the rest of the trip. Very little jet lag at the end.

This. Particularly afternoon sun.

Are you going East or West? Or South? Flying Eastwards to, say, Japan will result in much worse jetlag than flying West as you will be loosing hours.

We've travelled a lot of long haul with our family and my husband has travelled an obscene amount with his work. We always go straight into the destinations time and follow the new sleeping and eating times immediately.

I also use gentle over the counter sleeping pills for the first few nights if I need to.

Melatonin!

Thanks all. We're flying east, losing about 7 hours during the flight. Leaving uk about 10am, 14 hour flight, arrive next day about 7am. I dont particularly want to say where. One flight, no stops.

Am planning a quiet first day, with something booked in the evening to keep us going. Maybe that booking was a bad idea!

Will look into melatonin, haven't heard of that before.

Have just googled melatonin. It's not authorised for sale in the UK according to the NHS website.

I’m guessing Japan 😂
the airline may well set their time to the destination time so by about 7 hours into the flight will serve dinner then lights down - time to try to sleep.

Hi - Used to live in HK so have done this a few times. This actually is quite a good schedule as it's easier to power through than make yourself sleep when you're not tired. I would go to bed late the night before the flight so you're a bit tired on the flight and then try to nap on the flight as close to landing as possible. Then just try to power through the day of arrival and go to sleep no earlier than 9ish of you can stay awake that long.

on the off chance you're going to HK (dont need to say) you can buy melatonin in any local pharmacy there.

You can get melatonin on prescription in the uk https://onlinedoctor.lloydspharmacy.com/uk/jet-lag-tablets#side-effects-of-jet-lag-treatment

Only advice is do not be tempted to nap when you arrive. Do not sleep until bedtime!

I made that mistake once in East Asia and won’t make it again. It played havoc with my body clock for days.

My preference since then when going to Asia has been to have afternoon/evening arrivals to make that easier but I have a trip next year where it looks like we’ll end up with morning-morning flights. I plan to try and sleep as much as I can on the flight even if I don’t feel that tired and then push through to make it to a 10pm bedtime when we arrive.

Thank you all. We will have a late night the day before as we live about 5 hours from heathrow, travelling after work. Sounds like that might be a good thing. Am hoping the flight does do lights out/night time. Might help.

Thanks all. Am so excited. Haven't been to this part of the world since kids were born.

Japan? 😅

Don't worry about melatonin use sleepeaze from boots. You won't need it the first night as you will be really tired but you might on the second and third (and forth) night. Try half a tablet.

There will be so much to see and do (even if it's not Japan) that you will all be wired so you will be able to stay awake.

You won't be in the UK!

Can't believe the number of people suggesting taking a drug for this
Even more so when it isn't even one you can buy in the UK.

OP - listen to the people saying about adjusting to local time as soon as you land, and staying up the first day until bed time.

Melatonin is available OTC in most of the world. They aren't suggesting they take a handful of klonopin.

It's a hormone your body produces to tell you it's time to sleep. Its fabulous for traveling across time zones.

I'd actually go to bed on arrival for a few hours, then get up early afternoon and go and do some fun stuff, getting back to the hotel late evening. This always resets my body clock and I've never suffered significant jetlag in either direction.

A whacking big slug of night nurse, a sleep, and just power through where you need to!

You'll be fine.

Done similar a few times with DC much younger. 7 hours isn't too big of an adjustment.

I allow a short nap as long as we're up by lunchtime and make sure we eat a lunch and dinner at the right time.

Then everyone is very ready for bed that night and generally jet lag is a non issue.

Sunshine and daylight. On arrival get outside as much as possible. Let your body know its daytime. Ive tried it all and this is the only real help.

JorisBonson, Night Nurse contains paracetamol, it is dangerous to exceed the recommended dose. Please don’t advise OP to take a “whacking big slug” of it, and don’t do so yourself. You are risking liver failure.

I did long haul as cabin crew for years. Never needed melatonin. The flight probably won’t do lights out as it’s a day flight. I’d definitely suggest a few hours nap when you get there, especially if you’re going out that evening. It’s hell making yourself get up, but you must! Then a walk and some fresh air will help. And make yourself eat, even if you don’t feel hungry, it also helps. Hopefully after the evening out you’ll sleep well.