How to Beat Jet Lag

I've got Christi from Backpacking Bananas with me here today, and we are going to talk about how to beat jet lag when you're traveling internationally. Kick its butt, Jetlag. We've got another video over on Christi's Channel that is about how to survive these long haul flights, so I'll give you guys the link to that in a little bit. So you can start to combat jet lag before you even get on the plane.

What I usually do is try to adjust my sleeping schedule about a few days before we even take off. For example, like, if you're coming over to London from the UK, then obviously we're a few hours ahead, so start getting up earlier and going to bed earlier so you are starting to adjust your sleep schedule. Even if it's halfway there, and then you can do the other half the other side of the trip, it will just make it so much easier. It's absolutely vital once you're on the flight that you get as much sleep as possible.

It's never easy to sleep on a flight, and so the more sleep you get, the less you're gonna need when you get off.

For me I don't think that that necessarily will stop you from sleeping when you get off the plane, but yeah, just get as much as you can. It's a hard thing to do, but the more you get the better you're gonna feel. Here's how I try to get as much sleep as possible. First of all, I make sure that I drink as much water as I can, but also not too much water because otherwise I'm gonna have to get up and pee every five seconds, which is not good, especially if you don't have an aisle seat.

Yeah, climbing over people is not the most convenient thing to do on a flight. I used to try to make sure I had a glass of wine with dinner when I was on flights, because I thought it would help me sleep, but actually, it makes me feel worse, and part of the reason is that when you have alcohol, it affects your ability to go into now, I'm not sure how technically correct I'm saying this, but into your REM cycle I think, so essentially, it affects you being able to get as deep of sleep as possible. So you want to have deeply because that's when you're going to feel as rested as possible on the other side.

So having alcohol, actually, I would avoid it because you might not get as good of sleep as you would have hoped. Another thing that will really help you sleep is to avoid electronic screens. The blue light in them really makes it much more difficult for you to sleep.

But instead you can read a book, or I like to read a kindle because you can turn the light down really low on it, and also you don't have to turn that overhead light on and annoy everybody else. Oh, so annoying. Don't do that! I know.

Podcasts are really good too, because can listen to relaxing ones, you can listen to entertaining ones, but you can essentially close your eyes and not have to watch any of those screens. Whatever you feel like listening to at that time. Consider taking a sleeping pill.

Have you ever done that before? I think I have on a long haul flight from Australia. I fall asleep pretty easily though. Right! But they do work very well for people who don't fall asleep very easily.

Yes that's how I am. I really struggle to sleep, so I try to do it as little as possible, but if I have a really long flight that I must be somewhat awake for at the other end, then sometimes I'll take like half of the sleeping pill just to give me that little bit of edge to finally actually fall asleep and stay asleep a little bit longer than I usually would. Do be careful with sleeping pills though, because you can get into quite a dangerous cycle of... if you take it too late on in your flight, and then you have to get off but it's still kicked in and you're just so drowsy that you can't even function.

So just make sure you take it at the right time where it will only be on the flight that you're gonna fall asleep. Some of my essentials for being able to sleep on a flight are eye covers to block out the light, warm fuzzy socks, because it is actually scientifically proven that if your feet are cold, it's much harder to fall asleep. I also, if I can fit into my carry on, bring an extra blanket.

Yeah, it really helps so much because those little blankets on a plane they don't do anything, really. And also you don't always get a blanket on the plane. Especially if it's a short haul flight, they don't tend to give you blankets, but you still get cold! Essentially if you bring that, it's just going to help you to stay warmer and also just be cozier, and that's going to help you sleep, too.

And then probably the hardest part about dealing with jet lag is once you arrive to your destination and you have to stay awake that first day, coffee. I never used to drink coffee, but since going on all these long haul flights and doing so much travel you're going to have to stay awake at times, which your body's not prepared for, and coffee is a really good way of doing that. I usually drink tea just because I'm not really a big coffee drinker, but doing anything pretty much that just avoids you sitting down or laying down is your best bet, so, like, take a shower, change into fresh clothes, take a walk.

Oh, walks are perfect for that because then you can go and explore, but, like, you're still keeping yourself awake. And expose yourself to the daylight. Don't just stay in whatever dark room that you're in.

Your body will adjust so much easier if you're going with the daylight that's out there. And then essentially just keeping yourself awake as long as you can. At least make sure it's, like, nighttime I guess, like you said, and then you can go to bed, and it's going to take a couple of days, but the first day is always the hardest.

Once you get to the first day, it'll be way easier. Sometimes you're like "I cannot get through this," but you will! You'll get through it. It's going to be alright.

Okay, so those are all of our tips for beating jet lag when you're traveling internationally. Over on Christi's channel, we've recorded a video about how to survive a long haul flight, so beating jet lag is just the beginning, and we're gonna cover entertainment, things to keep you entertained on the flight just with general tips, and also everything that you need to bring. And make sure you go subscribe to Backpacking Bananas as well, because what can we find there? Loads of backpacking tips, loads of budgeting tips, Follow Me Around blogs everywhere that I go..

I'm a little bit weird, so if you like that, then go subscribe to my channel. So click here to have a watch of the video that we've done together.