Harness the facility of sunshine

Bright mild helps maintain our inside clock in sync with the surface world, touring by specialised cells within the retina and signaling the a part of the mind that units the physique’s grasp schedule. So, for longer journeys, search out or keep away from shiny mild at particular occasions, mentioned Dr. Olson. Starting a couple of days earlier than your journey, step by step shift the sunshine and darkish occasions of your origin towards that of your vacation spot, utilizing darkish glasses, daylight or different mild sources.

In the primary few days of your journey, determining one of the best occasions to get mild could be tough. Let’s say you’re taking an in a single day flight from New York to London, arriving at 7 a.m. Your mind should still really feel as if it’s 2 a.m., and getting shiny mild immediately might confuse your inside clock. In this case, chances are you’ll wish to placed on darkish glasses for a couple of hours, then exit within the solar when it’s nearer to your waking time at residence, extending your London day.

On lengthy journeys to Asia — when day and night time are reversed — it’s usually simpler to shift your cycle backward, mentioned Mickey Beyer-Clausen, chief govt of Timeshifter, which makes a jet lag app of the identical title. For instance, when flying nonstop from New York to Tokyo, which is 13 hours forward, consider it as being 11 hours behind (jet lag doesn’t take into account the worldwide date line). That means when you land at, say, 2 p.m. in Japan — 1 a.m. in New York — you’ll want to counter the truth that your New York mind is winding down for sleep. This means searching for out shiny mild all afternoon, particularly within the night, till bedtime in Japan. You may get a head begin on adapting to Japanese time when you go to mattress and search out mild later than regular for 2 nights earlier than you permit New York.

Online instruments like Jet Lag Rooster and Timeshifter assist create a personalized schedule primarily based on variables like time zone variations, departure and arrival occasions, and different components.

Consider melatonin

If you’re having hassle attending to sleep earlier in anticipation of touring east, Dr. Kapur suggests taking one milligram of over-the-counter melatonin about 4 hours earlier than mattress, as much as three days earlier than the journey. (Melatonin is a substance that’s produced naturally within the physique as night time falls, signaling that it’s time to fall asleep.) This small dose is greatest for lowering jet lag, Dr. Olson mentioned, as a result of research present a bigger dose doesn’t essentially work higher and is extra more likely to produce uncomfortable side effects. Travelers ought to be conscious that as a dietary complement, melatonin is not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.