Crew Daily Taking long haul flights can be a real nuisance or some as they can leave you incredibly jet-lagged. The thing is that after a long haul flight when you are trying to sleep, your body’s internal clock is actually trying to wake you up. This makes you get up in the middle of the night and leave you incredibly tired all the ties.
According to various studies, the body needs a full day to recover from the differences of the time zone. In order to help you get over this problem, we present a few tips to help get over the jet lag.
Relax the schedule
If you are somebody who adheres to a tightly knit schedule during your days at home, we recommend making a little wriggle in this schedule a few days before your big flight. If a person has a strict schedule of sleeping and eating, then this is going to be a little troublesome for them to adhere to the new time zone.
Getting the good night sleep before flying
One thing that people do before a big flight is to sleep only a few hours before the flight. They might do it because of the excitement of the trip or might be a natural thing, but we strongly recommend against it. Getting the good night’s sleep before the long haul flight is going to keep a person better suited for the upcoming jet lag.
Avoid nighttime flight
If it is all possible, we recommend taking the flights that end up during the daytime instead of the nighttime ones. The reason is that it is going to make it easier for you to keep yourself awake and also allow for you to go out more and explore under the shining sun. This will make you feel as if a full day is ahead of you.
Another tip is to fly within the time zone that is the same as your original place of living if you plan on taking vacation flights.
Split the trip
We recommend taking connecting flights on the long haul ones as this will allow you to adapt to new routines faster. Having connecting flights is also going to be a real money saver when it comes to airfare.
Avoid alcohol
This tip to avoid jet lag is the one that should be exercised in every travel plan or any mode of transportation. Before a flight, do not go diving to that bar for a drink. The effects of drinking alcohol before a flight are increased significantly during the flight. The body gets severely dehydrated and leaves a person extremely tired and thus causes them jet lag that is harder to beat than usual.
Avoid using Sleeping pills
For most of us, in order to get by a long haul flight, we often resort to taking sleeping pills to help us sleep throughout the long journey. Believe us, these pills are not worth any amount of good sleep. These pills are actually going to later cause trouble with jet lag and will leave you with a groggy mind after the flight.
If you have to sleep during the flight, let it happen the natural way. Most flights often offer the hot water for free so why not bring with you a few herbal tea bags to make your own herbal tea for the flight.
Don’t drink coffee
Just like alcohol, drinking caffeinated drinks and beverages such as coffee, coke, and other energy drinks is a strict no-no on a flight. These are all artificial stimulants that can hinder the ability to sleep and also significantly improves the recovery time for the jet lag.
The human body functions at its best when it is properly hydrated. This is why drinking water is one of the best ways to help you get to recover from the nuisance of jet lag.
Setting the watch for the new time zone
The mind is a complicated thing and it perceives time as we allow it to perceive. For the past few centuries, it has been etched in our minds to perceive the time by seeing it on the clocks. This is why we recommend adjusting your clocks to the new time destination as soon as you arrive there. This helps to deceive the mind on the psychological level and thus keeps a person aligned with their new time zone.
A warning here is to not adjust the time on you watches before taking the flight or you will end up losing the flight because your time was wrong on the watch.
Keep moving
One thing that contributes a lot towards the extreme jet lag feeling is the DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis) and the best way to avoid it is to perform exercises to keep the blood flowing. The key to avoiding DVT is keeping the blood circulation consistent. A tip here to avoid DVT is to invest a little in the pair of the in-flight socks that help with circulation in legs.
Eating right
This tip might seem like a little bit unorthodox but eating three meals a day before taking the flight to a new time zone is a good way to keep your body prepared for the upcoming jet lag.
Spending time in the sun
When you arrive at your new time zone destination, we recommend going outside as much as possible and spend time in the sun. The daylight sunshine is very good for human health unless a person has spent the night awake. Still, we also recommend applying some sunscreen before going in the sunlight.
Do some exercise
Another way to get over jet lag after your long haul flight is to get to the hotel gym and do some light exercises. This will help keep those endorphins boosted and also loosen the kinks from the long haul flights.
There are also many fitness magazines that also point out a few simple exercises that can help a person deal with jet lag.
Get enough sleep
After reaching your new time zone place of travel, we recommend catching up on the sleep as much as you can to help deal with jet lag. Try to sleep too often during the 24 hours period.
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