Experiencing Jet lag is one of the reasons why you cannot enjoy your vacation or business travel. Most have little success avoiding it. Frequent plane travelers are familiar with this undesirable condition.

Jet lag is a fatigue, temporary sleep disorder and disorientation caused by frequent and maybe quick air trip to different time zones. Other terms for this are desynchronosis and circadian dysrhythmia. Jet lag is popularly known as time zone change syndrome.  This time zone change syndrome may be experienced by those people who are working in a shifting schedule.

For travelers, the farther the places and the more time zones you travel, the worst you experience having irregular sleeping patterns and tiredness due to the changes in your body clock. It may take several days to experience jet lag until one can fully recover because the body clock (sleeping patterns, activities and body temperature regulation) is adjusting to cope with a new and different time of the place.

The symptoms of Jet lag are broken or disturbed sleep, difficulty in planning and concentration, muscle soreness, dehydration and the feeling of not being well. Missed and Irregular menstrual periods in women may be experienced as well.

Now, by reading this article, you can lessen or better stop the jet lag and treat its symptoms.

1. Before leaving the airport, change your bed time.

For instance, you will travel to a place with an opposite time zone, if you wake up every day at 6am and sleep at 9pm, before your flight, just like coming from a night party, try to sleep until 6am and wake up later at about 9pm. Even on the plane, sleep like this if you could. Doing this can lessen tiredness and exhaustion on the day you come to your destination.

Taking a hot bath, using blindfolds, listening to calm music and having a clean room can help in having a nice sleep.

2. Lights Off and Lights On

Since you are now trying to change your sleeping pattern, you must keep your lights off and room dark if you are going to sleep in daytime. If you wake up on early evening or night time, turn on lights and make these brighter as possible so you will feel more awake and alive.

You can purchase commercial light boxes but you must consult a sleep specialist first because it may not be advised to use these if you have medical conditions.

Avoid Caffeine by not drinking coffee, soda and other energy boosting drinks so your sleep will not be disrupted.

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3. Melatonin and other remedies

If you have a hard time changing your sleeping pattern, you can consider using Melatonin. It is a drug to help you sleep and adjust your body clock. It is suggested that it should be taken in the morning. If you want a safer alternative, use herbal medicines and aromatherapy.

4. Exercise and have a healthy diet

Nothing beats this old and frequently used tip. You can avoid getting sick and you can stay fit if you do eat a healthy diet. Exercise does not only strengthen your body but it can also lessen your stress. If you want to stay active and alert, eat more high-protein foods. If you want to sleep, eat more carbohydrates but when it is near bed time, eat a light meal so you would avoid having a slow metabolism.

If in case you got sick, it will be best to postpone your planned vacation. If it is not possible due to higher costs of re-scheduling a flight or an important business meeting, be sure to check with a doctor if you are really fit to travel. If yes, just bring your medications with you even if you are healthy.

You can also exercise in the plane as long as you don’t disturb other passengers. Try doing a few bicep curls by using a small bag or some books as your dumbbells. Bend your head and rotate your shoulders like in a normal workout. You can also rest a bit and stretch your arms and legs or if you cannot stretch your legs, just stand a few seconds as if you are just checking your bag above your seat.

5. Drink to fight dehydration

To avoid having fatigue, thirst, infrequent urination and dry skin, drink fluids to fight dehydration. If dehydration occurs, the ability of the blood to carry oxygen decreases. This may lead to nausea, dizziness and heat exhaustion which will make the affected person faint. Heat stroke may be experienced if you left dehydration untreated. Worst, it may lead to coma and death.

Since you are now prepared to fight Jet lag, you can now go to business meetings without losing an opportunity to earn more. You can now enjoy your vacation and worry no more about cancellation or reschedule policies. You are lucky that you can travel to different places. Be safe and be healthy. Have a nice trip!