{"id":5745,"date":"2013-09-16T09:00:36","date_gmt":"2013-09-16T13:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tripcentral.ca\/blog\/?p=5745"},"modified":"2020-06-22T17:35:35","modified_gmt":"2020-06-22T21:35:35","slug":"how-to-avoid-jet-lag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tripcentral.ca\/blog\/how-to-avoid-jet-lag\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Avoid Jet Lag While Travelling to Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most flights from North America to Europe depart in the late afternoon or evening and arrive in Europe in the early to late morning.\u00a0 Without preparation and discipline, the change in time zones can affect the first few days of your trip.\u00a0 tripcentral.ca has a guide to help you conquer jet lag learned from years of travel experience.<\/em><\/p>\n

Before You Travel<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to get a good night\u2019s rest.\u00a0 If possible, go to bed a bit early and sleep in a bit on your travel day.<\/p>\n

If your flight is around dinner time, accept the airline meal as your dinner.\u00a0 If your flight is well after your dinner time (8pm or later) eat before you fly and turn down the airline meal.<\/p>\n

During Your Flight<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you are able to sleep even a couple of hours while on a plane, avoid caffeine and alcohol and sleep.\u00a0 These two substances will make sleeping even more difficult.\u00a0 However, if you can never really sleep on a plane, these two substances can help you stay awake.\u00a0 If it’s impossible for you to sleep, prepare yourself for an \u201call nighter.\u201d Plan to stay awake during your flight and the whole next day until a normal bed time in your new time zone. Caffeine can help keep you awake.<\/p>\n

While on the plane, it will get dark outside quickly.\u00a0 If you can, try and sleep as early as possible.\u00a0 The more sleep you\u2019re able to get on the plane, the better.\u00a0 Eye patches can be helpful in telling your body that it\u2019s sleeping time and ear plugs can reduce distracting noise.\u00a0 The most difficult aspect of sleeping on an airplane seat is the stress on your neck so adjust your headrest to accommodate what feels comfortable.\u00a0 Use a quality neck cushion (the best are stuffed with beads and not air), and if you can pay a bit more for premium economy class or any upgrades, more space will make a difference in getting some shut-eye.\u00a0 If you wear contact lenses, take them out.<\/p>\n

It’s Morning in the New Time Zone
\n<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It will then get light outside quickly and the crew will be quick to serve a \u201cbreakfast.\u201d\u00a0 Even in the new time zone, this is a very unnatural time to have breakfast (especially only hours after you have had dinner).\u00a0 Skip it.\u00a0 Keep your eye patches on and try and get as much rest as you can \u2013 even if you can\u2019t fully sleep.\u00a0 You are far better to eat in your new time zone once you are off the plane, and have a real breakfast.<\/p>\n

Take your eye patches off as close to landing as possible, or as close to your \u201cnormal\u201d waking up time in your new time zone.\u00a0 On a six to nine hour flight to Europe, if you can even get four light sleeping hours, it will significantly help on the long day ahead of you.<\/p>\n

Adjust your watch when you \u201cwake up\u201d to the new time zone.\u00a0 It will be morning and you need to perceive it to be morning.\u00a0 Even if you are still flying, you should look at your watch and see \u201c6:30 am\u201d and sunshine and think of it as 6:30am and not 12:30am back home. Brush your teeth and put contact lenses back in (if you wear them).\u00a0 If you can still get service on the plane, have a coffee or tea now.<\/p>\n

You’ve Arrived<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you are arriving at a hotel or staying with family, it\u2019s really important that you resist any urge to go to bed.\u00a0 If you go to bed in the morning, even for a nap, you will dramatically improve your chances of feeling jet lagged for several days.\u00a0 Try and go on a tour, explore, or do something that will keep you fully occupied.<\/p>\n

Later, have an mid-afternoon nap \u2013 and it\u2019s really important that this is only a nap.\u00a0 Set your alarm for a 90 minute sleep \u2013 and keep the curtains open\/lights on.\u00a0 It\u2019s important that your body feel as though it’s having an afternoon nap.\u00a0 If you hit snooze, or sleep beyond 90 minutes, you will be doomed for several nights of waking up in the middle of the night.\u00a0 If you are travelling with someone or visiting family, ensure that they wake you up.\u00a0 If you have a connecting flight in Europe, and don\u2019t arrive in destination until the late afternoon, consider having this nap on your second flight (without eye patches).\u00a0 Having this nap in the late afternoon or early evening is not a good idea, unless you are prepared to stay up even later at night.<\/p>\n

Almost There<\/strong><\/p>\n

The home stretch is to stay up until at least 10pm on your first day in Europe.\u00a0 The later the better.\u00a0 Caffeine and activities that will keep you engaged and the time moving quickly is best, but reduce caffeine and alcohol to avoid it keeping you up too late \u2013 especially if you are sensitive to it.\u00a0 Being sedentary, including just sitting around and talking or watching tv are a very bad idea \u2013 because you will likely fall asleep.\u00a0 Stay busy.\u00a0 Tire yourself out physically if you can.<\/p>\n

When you finally go to bed after your long day, set your alarm for an eight or nine hour sleep.\u00a0 Be sure you are up at a normal morning wake up time and enjoy the day ahead!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most flights from North America to Europe depart in the late afternoon or evening and arrive in Europe in the early to late morning.\u00a0 Without preparation and discipline, the change in time zones can affect the first few days of your trip.\u00a0 tripcentral.ca has a guide to help you conquer jet lag learned from years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":""},"categories":[3541,3549],"tags":[],"modified_by":"Laura Cooper","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tripcentral.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5745"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tripcentral.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tripcentral.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tripcentral.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tripcentral.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5745"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/www.tripcentral.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15872,"href":"https:\/\/www.tripcentral.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5745\/revisions\/15872"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tripcentral.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tripcentral.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tripcentral.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tripcentral.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}