Oz to UK jet-lag solved

[jorgon]

I've found a solution to jet-lag on a trip from Australia to UK. Next time I go to Australia I'll try the same solution in reverse.

It works as follows.

1. You must ensure that you get some sleep during the flight. This is essential to help you get through the disrupted sleep patterns which will occur after you get to your destination. Since the actual flight is strange to the body system, your can ensure that you get some decent sleep by forcing yourself to stay awake in the first instance until you are very tired, and can't help but sleep whatever the time of day.
2. So at the beginning of the flight adjust your watch to UK time. Then think to yourself for the whole flight that it is that time. You need to adjust your sleep accordingly. So for example, if you take a late afternoon flight from Brisbane, regard this as really early morning (as it would be in the UK). Now, you wouldn't go to sleep in the morning in the UK so don't do it! Watch some movies, anything to keep awake until you reach maybe something like 6pm UK time. Then you'll find you can go to sleep easily. Tell yourself that 6pm is a perfectly respectable time to go to sleep in the UK, particularly if you've had a heavy day and the weather is terrible. Having watched all those movies, you'll be pretty tired and this will help you to sleep on the plane. Wear the eyepatches and plug something in the ears and go to sleep. Go to sleep. Sleep. Now you should wake up in the early hours UK time, but tell yourself there is nothing wrong with that - quite normal.
3. Now you're back in the UK and the next part of the jet-lag-solution is to follow the same pattern of sleep as you established on the plane, but making small adjustments until you get back to normal. So, you would make sure you go to bed early each day for the next few days. For example, on the first day back go to bed at 7pm. That's one hour from when you went to bed the day before (on the plane at 6pm). The following day go to bed at 8pm, then 9pm etc.
4. The regime in 3 above is very important. What you are trying to do is to ensure you get a good full night's sleep. The worst possible thing in my experience is to try to force your body too hard. It would be a big mistake desparately to try to stay up on your first night back in UK so that you go to bed at the usual 11pm. You'll almost certainly find that at 2am you wake up as bright as a bee, and you won't be able to go back to sleep again. That's only 3 hours sleep. Repeat that the following day, and you are a wreck. If you'd followed my advice and gone to bed at 7pm you would have got 7 hours sleep.

This is my contribution to the world.

[TheArmChairDetective]

I am advised by freinds who are frequent uk/aus fliers that the secret is
Night Nurse.

[Wenders]

I will certainly try and remember this next time, on return flight from Oz It took me almost a month to get into a "normal" sleeping pattern........I was as you put it a "wreck".
Either that or "night nurse"

[longland]

Have you ever heard of melatonin? Pop a pill gets you back on track - tried it many times from global trips and would recommend it any day.

[jorgon]

Originally Posted by TheArmChairDetective

I am advised by freinds who are frequent uk/aus fliers that the secret is
Night Nurse.

I'm not sure I follow this.
Do you mean that you find a nurse with whom to join the mile-high club?

[Gollywobbler]

Hi All

Any variety of Night Nurse beyond the two legged type is a bad idea at 33,000 feet because "decongestants" mainly work by dehydrating the patient according to a surgeon chum of mine whom I have just phoned.

He added that the two-legged type might not be any too brainy at 33,000 feet if the male passenger has cardiovascular problems but he guessed that at least the passenger might become a happy - if short lived - member of the Mile High Club in that event.

Best wishes

Gill

[Les & Woz]

Hi there

What I did to avoid jet lag going from UK to Oz was very similar but we had a stop over of 2 nights. I kept my watch on UK time. Got to Hong Kong at 8am their time which was something like 1am our time. Kept awake until about 3pm Hong Kong time then went to bed and got up when woke up (about 4.5 hours later). Went out for the evening in Hong Kong then went to bed about 10pm and got up next day and was adjusted to HK time. When arrived in Australia 3 days later was already in correct time zone. Had no problems with sleep or waking up in the night etc.

On way home to UK didn't work as well but didn't suffer too much jet lag. Best thing I found to do is have small sleeping sessions when you feel really tired until you can go to bed normal time and sleep all night.

Husband never got into the time zone although he did the same as me. He was about a month getting back to normal once we had returned to UK - MEN !!!

Les

[beverley]

a few glasses of something strong and a shot of night nurse, best sleep i ever had ........... and woke up with boots and coat on! lol