Jetlagged No More

Kevin Drum relays a simple cure for jetlag based on the magnum opus The Promise of Sleep, by sleep researcher Dr. William Dement:

A lot of people believe that if you, say, travel to Europe, all you have to do is force yourself to stay up all day on your first day and you'll be OK. You won't be. Here's why: twice a day your body releases stimulants that wake you up. This is (awkwardly) called "clock dependent alerting," and it happens once around 6 am and again around 7 pm or so — though this varies from person to person. So when I travel from California to Paris, even if I stay up all day and get to sleep just fine at midnight, around 4 am I'll wake up. And for the next three hours, no matter how hard I try, I can't get back to sleep. Around 6 or 7 am I can, but by then it's time to wake up. Result: I'm completely wiped out for the rest of the day.

So here's the answer: sleeping pills. Get a good quality prescription sleeping pill and take it when you go to bed even if you don't need it to fall asleep. You don't. You need it to stay asleep. I now take a sleeping pill every night for about a week (plus one on the plane over) when I travel to Europe, and it's like a damn miracle. I literally have no jet lag at all.

I can vouch for this. I am highly prone to jetlag, and am constantly flying across the Atlantic. Not a pretty combination. I sort of independently developed a similar approach to the one Drum describes, and with similar results. I plan to follow Drum's instructions to the letter next time I fly back to the U.S. (which will be in less than a week) and I'll report what happens...

Comments

[cingulum]

Oh yes, known issue! But sleeping pills are pretty addictive -- causing same results: you'll suffer from hangover and won't sleep without them anymore. Good experience while the last 4times of back-to-europe-jetlag we made with Melatonin, a brand called Luna Something available in every drugstore called W****.
Have a save timetrip!