How to beat jet lag: before, during and after the flight

Jet lag is your body clock disagreeing with the clock on the wall. You land at noon, and part of you believes it is the middle of the night. The more time zones you cross, the bigger the gap, and flying east is usually harder than flying west because you have to go to sleep earlier than your body wants.

You cannot remove it, but you can make it shorter and milder. Most of the work is about when you sleep, when you see daylight and when you eat.

This is general advice, not medical advice. If you have a medical condition, take regular medication, or are thinking about sleep aids or supplements, ask a doctor or pharmacist before you travel.

Before you fly

If your schedule allows, start shifting a few days ahead. Go to bed a little earlier each night if you are flying east, or a little later if you are flying west, and move your wake-up time to match. Even an hour or two of shift makes the first day easier.

A few other things help before you leave:

• Do not arrive at the airport already short of sleep. A rested start is the best thing you can give yourself.
• Plan your arrival time with the clock in mind. A flight that lands in the morning lets you stay awake through the day. A flight that lands late at night lets you go straight to bed.
• Book the first night somewhere easy to reach. A simple room close to the airport is better than a long transfer after an overnight flight. Airport to city covers how to plan that last stretch.
• Keep the first day empty. Do not book a tour, a dinner reservation or a train for the morning you land.

On the plane

Set your watch or phone to the time at your destination as soon as you board. It is a small thing, and it helps you begin to think in local time.

Then use the flight to follow the destination's night and day as far as you can. If it is night there, try to sleep, with an eye mask, earplugs and a neck pillow if they help you. If it is day there, stay up, read, watch something, and walk the aisle. Long-haul flight tips has more on the seat, the carry-on and staying comfortable.

Drink water steadily. Cabin air is dry, and being dehydrated makes tiredness feel worse. Many people find that a lot of alcohol or coffee interferes with sleep, so it can be worth keeping them light.

When you land

The most useful tool for resetting your body clock is daylight at the right time, and the second most useful is meals at local mealtimes.

• Go outside. Daylight tells your body what time it is. Walk around, sit in a park or have a coffee at a table by the window.
• Eat on local time. Even if you are not hungry, have something at breakfast, lunch and dinner. A light meal is fine.
• Stay up until a reasonable bedtime. The temptation after a long flight is to sleep at once. If you have to nap, keep it short, around twenty to thirty minutes, and early in the day.
• Go to bed at a normal local hour, even if you are awake at first. Keep the room dark and cool.

Flying east often means being awake in the small hours and sleepy by mid-afternoon. Flying west often means being sleepy early in the evening and awake at dawn. Both pass. If you wake at four in the morning, stay in bed with the lights low for a while, and do not scroll your phone if you can help it.

How long it lasts

There is no fixed rule, and everyone differs. A common rule of thumb is that it takes about a day for each time zone crossed, but many people adjust faster, and some slower. Do not plan anything that depends on you being at your best for the first couple of days after a big change.

Short trips across just a few time zones are a different case. For a weekend, some people stay on their home schedule and eat and sleep as they would at home. That works only if the trip is very short and you are not travelling for something that needs you to be on local time.

Plan the first days with jet lag in mind

Planning around jet lag is mostly about being realistic. A good first day after a long flight looks like this:

1. Arrive, drop your bags, shower.
2. A walk and a meal near where you are staying.
3. Something that keeps you awake and outdoors, without being demanding.
4. An early night.

Move the big tour, the long drive or the ticketed event to day two or three. If you are travelling in a group, tell everyone what the plan for the first day is before you leave, so nobody is surprised when half the group wants to sleep until the afternoon. Plan a travel day goes into how to build a day around a journey.

Put it in the itinerary so that everyone can see it.

If jet lag does not ease

If you are still struggling after a week, or you feel unwell, ask a doctor. If you travel across many time zones often for work, a doctor can help you work out a plan that suits you.

For your next trip, choose one thing to try, such as getting outside within an hour of landing, and see whether it helps. It is easier to learn what works for you one change at a time.