Five tips to eliminate jet lag

Allowing your body to successfully adjust when you’ve embarked on a journey through multiple time zones is easier said than done but if you arm yourself with the right tools, you could be kicking jet lag to the curb so you can get on with your holiday fresh as a daisy.

Jet lag, or biorhythmic confusion as it’s officially known, occurs when we travel through time zones, turning our body clock upside down and confusing the body to the point where you don’t know when to eat or sleep.

Rather than lose days either side of your cross-time zone journeys, there are plenty of ways to minimise jet lag symptoms so you can enjoy a productive day immediately following a long haul journey.

Plan ahead and be well rested before take off

Before you even jump on the plane make sure you take the time to have a few nights of good sleep. The days before you jet off, take the time to ensure you are relaxed and getting to bed early and have peaceful days, so your body is physically ready to fly.

Take advantage of the fight to enjoy a kip

It’s rare to have hours and hours of spare time on your hands, so when you do have a stretch of time on a flight why not make the most of it!

Take a few naps and reset your body clock as soon as you get on the flight, so you are working on the time zone of the destination so you get your body used to the new time zone as quickly as possible.

Stay awake upon arrival until local bedtime

There is no point going to sleep the minute you arrive at your new destination. Aim to stay awake until the local bedtime swings around so you force your body clock to adjust to the new time zone. Take yourself for a walk or go out for a quick swim – whatever it takes to stay awake.

Don’t stress about jet lag

Like most things in life, sometimes jet lag is just unavoidable but if you are stressing yourself out about whether you will feel the dreaded body clock delay that jet lag brings, you could be wasting valuable energy.

Try and practice mindfulness and avoid the temptation to be focused on whether or not you’ll experience jet lag – instead, clear your mind when you’re travelling and try and just go with the flow and be as rested and relaxed as possible during the travelling process.

Split up the trip

If you’re not on a huge time limit, it could be a wise idea to split up your trip with a multi-city flight schedule.

Exploring a new city and breaking up your long-haul flight could be just the remedy for beating jet lag and helping our body adjust to a new time zone and adapting to a new routine.

At the end of the day, jet lag can affect different people in a variety of ways – your age, state of health and stress levels can all impact how your body clock will react to long-haul travel. By trying a few of the tips above you can reduce the effects of jet lag or even avoid it all together – so you can get on with enjoying your holiday.

The post Five tips to eliminate jet lag appeared first on Habitat.