Jet lag tips: how to adjust faster after a long flight

The short answer: shift to local time, and use daylight

Jet lag happens when your body clock is still on the time zone you left. The NHS lists the usual symptoms: trouble sleeping at night and waking early, tiredness and drowsiness in the day, poor concentration and memory, and sometimes indigestion, nausea, changes in appetite or mild anxiety. It says jet lag can’t be prevented, but you can reduce its effects, and it usually gets better on its own within a few days.

The two things that help most, according to the NHS and the CDC, are moving your sleep and meals to local time as quickly as you can, and getting daylight at the right time of day. The rest of this guide explains how. It’s general travel information, not medical advice: if you take regular medicine at set times, or have a condition affected by sleep, ask your doctor or pharmacist before you travel.

Why flying east feels harder

Your body clock finds it easier to run later than to run earlier. Flying west, from London to New York for example, you need to stay up later, which most people manage. Flying east, from New York to London or London to Tokyo, you need to fall asleep earlier than your body wants to.

The CDC’s Yellow Book puts numbers on this: it cites the body clock adjusting by about 1.5 hours a day after flying west, against about 1 hour a day after flying east. The more time zones you cross, the longer it takes. A short hop of one or two hours, such as London to Paris or Rome, barely registers for most people.

Before you fly

The CDC suggests shifting your sleep by an hour a day in the 2 to 3 days before you leave: an hour earlier each night if you’re flying east, an hour later if you’re flying west. That gives you a head start of two or three hours without changing much at home.

Choosing the right flight helps too. That part is our own advice, not from the NHS or CDC. Flying west, a daytime departure that lands in the afternoon or evening lets you stay up to a normal local bedtime. Flying east overnight, try to sleep on the plane so you arrive able to stay up through the first day. Compare departure and arrival times on the fare calendar or a route page before you book, and see our first long-haul flight tips for the flight itself.

On the plane

Set your watch and phone to destination time when you board, and think in that time from then on. The NHS suggests limiting caffeine and alcohol, both of which can disturb sleep. Drink water, eat lightly, and sleep if it’s night at your destination.

If it’s daytime at your destination when you’re in the air, our advice is to keep any nap short and stay awake for most of the flight, so you’re tired by local bedtime. Get up and walk now and then, which is good for long flights anyway.

When you arrive

The NHS advice is to change to the new time zone for sleeping and eating as quickly as possible after you arrive. Eat meals at local times even if you’re not hungry, and go to bed at a sensible local hour.

Light is the strongest signal to your body clock. The CDC’s guidance is to seek bright light in the morning after flying east, and in the afternoon after flying west, and to get natural daylight at your destination. In practice, that means a morning walk on your first days in Tokyo or Sydney, and an afternoon outdoors on your first day in New York.

• Get outside in daylight at the right time of day for your direction of travel
• Eat at local mealtimes from the first day
• Avoid long daytime naps; if you must, keep them short (our advice)
• Keep caffeine to the morning and go easy on alcohol
• Plan an easy first day without important meetings or long drives (our advice)

Short trips: stay on home time

If you’re only away for 2 or 3 days, the NHS suggests you could try keeping to your usual eating and sleeping times rather than adjusting to the new time zone. By the time your body clock had shifted, you’d be flying home and starting again.

This works best when the timing of your plans fits your home clock. A short work trip from London to New York, for example, has meetings in the New York morning and afternoon, which is the London afternoon and evening, so staying on UK time can be manageable. On a big time difference, such as London to Tokyo, it’s much harder.

Melatonin and sleeping tablets

The NHS says medicines aren’t usually needed for jet lag. It says melatonin isn’t recommended on the NHS for jet lag because there isn’t enough evidence that it works. NHS 111 Wales adds that sleeping tablets can be habit-forming and should only be used for a short time when symptoms are severe. If you’re thinking about either, speak to a GP or pharmacist first, and don’t take something new for the first time on a flight.

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