How do I deal with timezone differences from international travel & getting back to my normal sleep schedule?

Question

I live in Wisconsin (US central standard time zone). I recently took a 3 week trip to Bangkok, Thailand.There was a +13 hour difference in time zones (5pm here is 6am there). Now that I am home I am having incredible difficulty getting back to my normal sleep schedule. I get almost exactly 3 hours of sleep at night and then when I wake up I can't get back to sleep and I have to get up. Then later during the day I feel very tired and have to fight the urge to sleep. What can I do to get back to my normal sleeping schedule (approx. 11pm-6am)?

Answer 1

Yeah coming back from Asia to North America is rough. I have done it a few times. They say that the for evey hour difference it takes one day to recover. I have found this to be pretty true but you can do things to help it.

1. Drink lots of water. Air travel really dehydrates and that makes you tired.
2. During the day you are going to want to take a nap. Do it your body needs sleep but only allow one hour. No more or you start to go into too much deep sleep.
3. Light is important. You carcadian rythems are used to different paterns of day light. You need to get outside in the morning and get your body used to the fact that it is day time.
4. If you have to take a sleeping pill ask your doc for one that KEEPS you asleep. The ones that just get you asleep only last about 4 hours. The good ones keep you out for 8 hours. If you don't want to take a pill then try and have milk before bedtime, not tea. Even herbal tea has caffine.
5. Exercise. Take a walk before bedtime. It will help you get a better quality of sleep.

Just remember that it will get better soon. I know it is the worst feeling in the world but it does get better.

Answer 2

Hi,

i get jet lag all the time when travelling and there's not that much you can do to avoid it, but you can alleviate it, using these tips:

- don't ever think about what time it would be back in Thailand
- get as much sunlight during day as possible
- work out just before going to sleep, so you're really tired
- have some herbal tea prepared when going to bed
- put a really boring book besides your bed and start reading it when you wake up at night.

I personally have never tried to use medications, so I won't recommend this to you.

Answer 3

There is no misery like the one brought on by jet lag. Last October I traveled from Tokyo to New York and for a week i felt like a zombie. Dont know if this will work for you but one Friday evening after a particularly bad day I drank some whisky (not enough to make me drunk though)and was able to sleep through the night; felt fine next day and was able to sleep the following night. Alternatively, you could keep urself awake during the day with chewing gums....AVOID TAKING COFFEE OR CAFFEINE DRINKS...they keep you awake during the day and make u feel miserable at night...if you can manage to fight off sleep during the day you may be tired enough and may just have a long slumber at night.

Answer 4

I heard of worse circumstances. the first problem you want to judge is allowing your body to get waiting for sleep. commence eating larger breakfasts or larger foodstuff interior the morning. give up ingesting any caffeinated beverages like espresso or cola at about six pm and skim a superb e book or mag article. Drink small quantities of water and swap the television off and bypass to mattress at 12:00 pm. Set your alarm clock for 7:00am or 8:00am and "upward push up"! carry out somewhat chores, interior the previously hours, or something major that you've been not in a position to do previously! solid success!

Answer 5

exersize during the day try to get yourself very tired but sometimes it just takes time
do not avoid going to bed
eat when it is lunch not when you are hungry so that everything gets used to being on time
and just do everything as if it was normal but if u want to uncomplicate it I travel alot and by the second day of being back I am alright.