I feel wretched! My cousin does these trips all the time; how does he manage it? I go to bed and manage to sleep at the usual time, but somehow it does not rest me at all until about 4.00am, when I would be going to bed in the US. Then, of course, the alarm goes at 7 and I have to claw myself out of bed—not usually a problem for me at all. Several days of this have now made me feel awful; sick and headachy, besides constantly yawning and being unable to concentrate much. I had a bit of this in Canada and the US, for about a week and a half, but not as severely.
Someone in San Diego recommended Melatonin tablets, but by the time I managed to find and buy some there, I felt much better. I hate taking any sort of drugs beyond the occasional aspirin, but I think that tonight I am going to weaken and try it.
I remember a (senior) fellow priest going to bed in the middle of the day for several days running, pleading jet lag as his reason. But he had been to Gibraltar, which is on the Greenwich meridian!
6 comments:
My suggestion is that you make an effort to 'reset' your body clock by using nature.
When you wake up go outside in the sun early in the morning. Try and spend some time throughout the day in the sun to convince your body what time it is.
Then at night make sure all the lights are off and it is quiet.
The only times I have had serious jet lag was when I went to Europe for work an couldn't take the time in the first couple of days to get outside and reset my clock.
Oh, heck. I wish I could find the alternating
pasta and salad vs meat and protein diet that was recommended 4 days before one flew a long distance like that.
I did it once going from SD to France and back and had no ill effect and virtually no jet lag. It really also helps if you plan what time of day you arrive. I find if I arrive somewhere in the late afternoon or at night I'm FINE. And it's always easier to travel east to west than vice versa. [usually because that gets you in later in the day -- when everyone else is winding down too.]
Karen
Dear Father, as somebody who has to do this intercontinental stuff sufficiently frequently to understand what it can take out of one, can I suggest that the options are that you suffer from jet lag: really badly; a bit; or barely at all.
There is no cure beyond acceptance. I have it really badly and even the one hour difference when we change the clock makes me suffer for a week.
The only time I get over the suffering quickly is by going to New Zealand or Australia!
Ttony and Fr. Sean -- next time you have a long distance flight, try this diet. I wouldn't bother if it's just a time zone or two (and frankly a five hour flight from east coast to west coast of US with a +/-3 hour diff and vice versa doesn't personally bother me either way....) But for those "major deals" like between continents, that's something else!
[Gee whiz, Fr. Sean...are you sure you didn't get bitten by the lethargy snake in Texas? I expect this translates to "I still have a mountain of laundry to do."
Karen
I have to take a rest when we lose/gain an hour in spring/autumn - puts me out for weeks!
I got jet lag once on my way back from the US it's awful & lasted a complete week..wonder if the melatonin works?
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