Fight off the jetlag before it ever comes

I discovered a medicine against jet lag. Well, I didn’t discover it. I rather proved that it works.

Here are a few points that my campus nurse suggested to me before I flew out. For many it might be a “duh!” issue but I think it’s a good thing to remember for anyone who moves between time zones. I don’t like taking pills, even those that try to prevent jet lag, so this “organic” alternative proved pretty handy for me.

• Get a good night’s sleep the day before you travel (as almost always, I haven’t applied this one, so the following step was a little harder to do)
• Don’t take naps longer than 45 minutes while traveling.
• Drink LOTS of liquids (if you can suppress your cravings, don’t drink alcohol; that will only give you a bad headache by the time you reach your destination)
• Don’t overeat; this will only slow down your metabolism and make you more prone to sleep. Eat light foods, and snack on fruits, granola bars or other easily digestible goodies.
• Travel with a wheeled piece of hand luggage; it will take the pressure of your shoulders when you’re walking around the airport and you will get tired less easily.  
•  Once reaching the destination, don’t sleep until it is the local nighttime. If you resort to the absolutely necessary nap, be sure to wake up (or be woken up) before you reach the 45-minute threshold.

Now, I know that this may seem a bit harsh and hard to do. Depriving yourself of sleep after you finish a13-hour flight where you couldn’t shut an eye (not to mention the connecting flights)? I’ve been there, and it’s really not as terribleas it sounds. Remember, you can still take naps during and after your flight. The point is that you don’t fall into deep sleep until the nighttime at your destination. You want to make sure that your body adjusts to the local time as fast as possible.

Although this approach may work for some and not for others, I encourage you to try it. It’s worth it if you don’t want to look like a zombie tourist the next three days after you arrive. Consider that if your trip were 10 days long, almost one third of it would be characterized by constant fatigue.

In my experience, if you hold off your sleep until the night of your arrival, your body will reset much quicker. I hadn’t slept for over 24 hours by the time I hit the hay in Lusaka. The next morning, after some 9 hours of sleep, I felt like a rosebud. Throughout the whole day I may have yawned once or twice, but I felt perfectly awake and alert to observe and learn about all the new people and places surrounding me.