Current location:travel >>
Ten jet lag busters! Airline crew's tips to make long
travel6736People have gathered around
IntroductionThere are all kinds of theories about how to handle a long-haul flight without feeling drained. It's ...
There are all kinds of theories about how to handle a long-haul flight without feeling drained.
It's an occupational hazard for cabin crew... but here are their tried and tested tips.
1. Go local – fast
Change your watch to the time in your destination as soon as you land (most phones automatically do so). Living on local time is easier when you fly west as you'll normally arrive closer to bed-time. Fly east and you may have a full day to get through before bed. 'It's why cabin crew say west is best, east is a beast,' says Jennie Jordan, author of Flying High, a book about flight attendant life.
2. Limit your naps
A quick nap after arrival is fine, preferably in the morning because it won't affect your body clock as much as a long afternoon snooze – and is less likely to stop you sleeping at night. But it's best to stay up to your normal bed time. Planning a first-day activity, even if it's just a restaurant for an early dinner, can take your mind off sleep.
The experts advice changing your watch as soon as you land in your destination and avoiding long naps in the afternoon
Alcohol is more potent at altitude and leads to dehydration, which makes fatigue worse
3. Booze is bad news
Free drinks may be tempting, but alcohol has more effect at 35,000 feet as cabin pressure cuts oxygen levels in the blood. Drink too much and hangovers can kick in shortly after landing, further confusing body clocks that associate sore heads with early mornings. Dehydration also creates fatigue and compounds jet lag.
4. Drink in that fresh air
Don't drink your coffee/tea indoors on your first morning away. Take a cup out into a garden or hotel pool or even into the street so you get some fresh air and feel daylight on your skin as early as possible. It helps your subconscious record that it's morning and eases you into the new time zone.
Taking your morning coffee out to the pool will help ease you into the new time zone
A twilight stroll aids digestion and helps you acclimatise
5. Go for a stroll
Scientists say dog owners tend to sleep well as they go for short walks in the evening, stretching muscles and reminding the subconscious that darkness has fallen. So take a twilight stroll on holiday. And never go straight from dinner to bed, which may add indigestion to jet lag.
6. Sleeping pill rules
Three nights of sleeping pills are enough: over-the-counter, prescription or herbal pills can help you sleep in a new time zone, but Dr Ben MacFarlane, author of Holiday SOS: The Life-Saving Adventures Of A Travelling Doctor, warns against packing too many. 'After the third night you should be able to sleep naturally,' he says. 'Get into the habit of taking medication on holiday and you might struggle to break the cycle at home.'
7. Avoid disturbances
Don't risk being woken when you do nod off in a hotel for a quick midday nap. Most cabin crew will turn mobiles to silent and hang up 'Do Not Disturb' signs.
Cabin crew tend to use do not disturb signs so they can sleep without an unwelcome knock from housekeeping
DJ Calvin Harris, pictured here with wife Vick Hope, advises eating egg yolks while airborne - though it's not clear if that has any scientific basis
8. Embrace background noise
Experts say it pays to embrace low levels of noise on planes and at hotels. Tell your brain it's OK to be surrounded by a low hum of activity and you're more likely to sleep. White noise, including recordings of log fires, can also soften sounds that might otherwise wake us.
9. Don't brazen it out
Some swear by staying on UK time while away. They say it makes it easier to click back to British time. Critics believe it's only likely to work for business travellers away for one or two nights. If you're away for a week, ignore UK time completely.
10. Ignore weird tips
DJ Calvin Harris recently said eating raw egg yokes on flights stops him getting jet lag. When flying long haul he says he puts six eggs in his cabin bag then cracks them and eats the yokes at his (first class) seat. Does this work? Doubtful — but each to his or her own.
Tags:
Reprint:Friends are welcome to share on the Internet, but please indicate the source of the article when reprinting it.“Culture Connect news portal”。http://andorra.lochsaege.com/html-59c399542.html
Related articles
Another Michigan dairy worker has bird flu, the third US case this year
travelAnother Michigan farmworker has been diagnosed with bird flu, the third human case associated with a ...
【travel】
Read moreTame Iti brings Haki Ātea to Waitangi
travelTame Iti unveils a sculpture, gifting it to Waitangi. Photo: Anneke Smith ...
【travel】
Read moreVideo shows chaos at aid delivery on Gaza beach
travel...
【travel】
Read more
Popular articles
- Woman pleads guilty to negligent homicide in death of New York anti
- Robyn Malcolm takes out best actress gong at France film festival
- Seymour promise reveals tension at the heart of government
- 'Major logistics exercise' to deliver humanitarian aid from NZ to Gaza
- I won the Apprentice and I went BUST... here is why it is time for Lord Sugar to QUIT the show
- Kaimanawa horses adoptions threatened by cost of living
Latest articles
Cheryl is 'nearly PULLED off
Police treat painting over of Auckland's K' Road rainbow crossing as hate crime
Wellington's Tuesday dinners celebrates 'amazing collection of people' 25 years on
Eli Lilly's new ad says weight
The Office star Mindy Kaling reveals whether she will be reprising her role as Kelly Kapoor in spin
Tesla, Volvo Car pause output as Red Sea shipping crisis deepens
LINKS
- David McBride: Army whistleblower who exposed alleged Australian war crimes jailed
- The Danish king and his Australian
- A French court clears director Roman Polanski of defaming a British actor
- Primaries in Maryland and West Virginia will shape the battle this fall for a Senate majority
- Maradona heirs say his Golden Ball trophy was stolen and want to stop its auction
- Incumbent Baltimore mayor faces familiar rival in Democratic primary
- Katharina Wagner will lead the Bayreuth Festival for 5 more years
- Biden's 102% tariff on Chinese EVs adds to tensions with Beijing
- There's bird flu in US dairy cows. Raw milk drinkers aren't deterred
- Takeaways from AP investigation into police training on the risks of handcuffing someone facedown