Home Remedies for Jet Lag

Jet lag is a common sleep disorder that just about any long-haul air traveler will be familiar with. It is caused by the body's inability to reset its internal clock quickly enough to bring it into line with local time when arriving at your destination.

Jet lag is a common sleep disorder suffered by many millions of travelers every day, whether traveling on business or for pleasure. In one recent survey of international business travelers, seventy four percent of those questioned said that they suffered frequently from jet lag.

Causes of Jet lag:

Jet lag is caused by a significant and rapid change in time zones which result in a difference between the local time and the time recorded by your body’s internal clock.

Jet lag happens because our body temperature rhythm doesn't adjust to a new time zone as quickly as we'd like it to. Whenever you travel East, you are forced to sleep when you are not sleepy. Whenever you travel West, you experience feelings of drowisness and tiredness earlier than everyone else.

Treatment of Jet leg:

1. Proper Hydration

When you fly in a plane for 8 hour, you would lose a lot of water. You may notice that your lips get really dry during a long flight. This is because there's zero humidity in the plane! And this means that water is literally evaporating out of you as if you were a puddle of cool aid on a hot summer day!

2. Set your schedule in advance

The best strategy for going across several zones is to start changing your sleeping schedule several days in advance to the trip.

3. Shock your sleep system

When you arrive your destination, immediately adapt your sleeping schedule to the local time zone. For instance, if you arrive at 3Pm and you're feeling tired and drowsy, don't sleep! Wait it out and go to sleep at the time you normally would. This will put more pressure on your body temperature rhythm to adapt to the local time. If you try to adjust gradually it will take longer and make your vacation time less enjoyable!

4. Reduce you caffeine intake.

Coffee, as well as other caffeinated drinks, both speeds up and slows down your internal body clock, depending upon the time of day that you consume it.

5. Avoid Pills.

With the exception of any prescribed medication that you normally take, you should avoid sleeping pills, so-called ‘jet lag’ pills and over the counter medication for jet lag. Not only do these have little or no beneficial effect, many of them can actually add to your problems.

6. Dress comfortably for your flight.

Choose comfortable and loose fitting clothes to travel in and tuck a pair of slippers into your carry-on luggage to wear on board the aircraft.

7. Get out in the sunshine.

Once you reach your destination get out into daylight as much as possible during the first few days of your trip.

8. Take something special with you.

It can often be difficult settling in strange surroundings and, in particular, relaxing sufficiently to fall asleep.