Jet lag...

[Rags]

I posted about jet lag before but it seems that we have a few trip reports lately with such complaints. If you have limited time to spend, you definitely don't have time to be lagged out.

For those of you that have never expirienced it (and you WILL crossing 10 or more time zones), it is like being drunk but without the good buzz. Your brain functions like molasses. Your sleep patterns get screwed up. Not the best conditions to be making important decisions or trying to put your best foot forward. It lasts for me about three days and is more pronounced after the inbound trip than when coming back.

I use an herbal compound called Melatonin available at most health food or drug stores. It is a chemical that is produced by the body during sleep to regulate your "body clock". There are other medicines like "lag-ex" but they are much more expensive and I believe that melatonin is the main ingedient anyway. I bought a 50 tablet bottle at Longs for $3.25. I saw the same exact bottle at SFO for $35 or so. Talk about mark up! (That flight I bought the lag-ex for $4 / 8 tablets in Seattle.)

I take one tablet every two hours (even during layovers) and two if I am lucky enough to get in a nap during a flight and have not expirienced any lag or other side effects. I won't say that I arrive refreshed but I'm not walking around in a daze either.

DO NOT drink alcohol or take sleeping pills during your flight (been there, done that) instead or it will only make your lag out worse and longer.

[MarkInTx]

... in response to Jet lag..., posted by Rags on Jun 28, 2002

Well, I have been racked by JL on all of my trips...

I will try it next time and see how it goes. Thanks!

[snowwego]

... in response to Jet lag..., posted by Rags on Jun 28, 2002

I only slightly feel the jet lag when i come back and not when I was over there and the effect was minimal. I just felt a little sluggish and that could have also been me missing my girl. I also only rquire 4 to 6 hrs sleep and I am recharged

[Bobby Orr]

... in response to Jet lag..., posted by Rags on Jun 28, 2002

I go back to work the next day after a trip, no problems other than I usually fade in the afternoon.  By a week it is all over.  Just get the morning sun, eat lots of vegetables and you'll be over it before you know it.

[Jack]

... in response to Re: Jet lag..., posted by Bobby Orr on Jun 28, 2002

Something maybe a bit funny Rags and Hockey guy. As I was preparing for my very first trip in 95 I was told about this Jet lag and how it would throw me back, mess up my sleep and distort my first few days. I was really concerned about it.

With me, and I know everyone is different, with me I never once experienced jet lag on any trip over, UNTIL after I got married!

I figured I was so pumped up, thinking about Veronica, Oksana, Sveta, that when I got there, I hit the tarmac running and never slowed down, didn't have time for Jet lag, although I did sleep like a baby when I did get to sleep.

Well Jack was immune from Jet lag, he thought. So I meet my dreambride, we get married in the US, and a few months later we went to her city in her country to again marry in front of family and friends, you know, the REAL wedding. SURPRISE, SURPRISE!!! So this is Jet lag? It does exist, but never effected me until after I was married.

So Rags, and you other newly-wed guys who may have never experienced Jet lag before, wait until you go back next time!

[juio99]

... in response to Jet lag..., posted by Rags on Jun 28, 2002

just as with the correct way to find a RW, there are rarely two people who react the same to jet lag or to the use of melatonin.

For instance, I am very immune to most medications, and have to take double and triple doses to get anything.

And, although the studies show that jet lag has worse effects going east than going west, I am just the opposite.  However, I think that adrenalin has a lot to do with it in my case.  In other words, when I went to Russia and Turkey to meet with ladies, I was all hyped up and had virtually no problem with jet lag.  But when I come back home to my normal life, the jet lag bothers me for about 4-5 days.

Also your prescription for use of melatonin doesn't fit with what some 'experts' have suggested.  But then again, maybe it does, because I can't figure out exactly what they are saying.

Anyway, here are two websites that attempt to describe the proper usage.

http://www.pathfinder.com/drweil
http://www.ricksteves.com/tips/melatoni.htm

JR

[Rags]

... in response to Thanks Rags, but, posted by juio99 on Jun 28, 2002

Yeah, I'm with you on interpreting what these guys are saying. I don't know where I got my dosing instructions. It may have been from the lag-ex package or at the health food store.  I do know that it works for me without any side effects and sure saves me from walking around in a daze for three days after I get there.

Coming back is no problem for me. I usually drive the three hours from SFO to work, pull my 12 hour shift, and drive two hours to my house. To each his own...

[oldbutspry]

... in response to Jet lag..., posted by Rags on Jun 28, 2002

I went to Tver last month and didn't have the least bit of jet lag.  How?  I normally work from 7pm to 6am and and routinely switch my sleeping pattern on my "weekend".

I only managed to sleep a little on the plane each way (maybe 2 hours each time).  Coming back my plane arrived at about 8pm and I had a friend pick me up at the airport and take me straight to work.  I then worked till 6am - and I was actually alert and able to function quite well.  Of course, I spent most of my time at work telling my buddy all about the exploits of my trip.

The only drawback:  every morning in Tver I woke up at 6am sharp (but was able to go right back to sleep).

Later,

John

[Oatmeal]

... in response to No Jet lag..., posted by oldbutspry on Jun 28, 2002

Just for those who don't already know.

Melatonin is strongest during the first couple of days but gets weaker and weaker as your body adjusts to this.  It is good for an intial adjustment but don't rely on this as something you can continue to take for more than a few days.

In any case I hear it is a great natural remedy to the jet lag blues.

[Oscar]

... in response to Re: One thing about melatonin, posted by Oatmeal on Jun 28, 2002

I have used this on the last 3 of my four trips to the FSU and it truly does work-  But it is very important HOW you take it.  
I read studies of trans-atlantic flight crews using melatonin in different ways.  They said that the best results were obtained by doing nothing (except as Rags says, not drinking) until you get to your destination.  Don't sleep on the plane, don't take anything in the air.  When you get to say Kiev in the afternoon, just go about your day and go to bed at the regular time there (their time).  When you go to bed, take 5 mg of melatonin.  Each night at bed time, reduce this amount by 1 mg.  So you will be taking the melatonin for 5 days, starting with 5 mg and reducing to the last night with 1 mg.  
When I did this, I can remember my interpreters saying, "well, I am sure you are very tired with the jet lag" and I would say, "no-way, I'm ready to go"!..  They seemed pretty surprised!

It worked extremely well.  My first trip without it, I was a joke for the first 3 days and time there is too valuable and short to be doing that!

Later