Feeling all woozy and wobbly after a long flight? Chances are that you may be suffering from jet lag. Here are some remedies to help you know how to get over jet lag fast.

Jet Lag Remedies

Have you ever found it hard to get your sleep after hours of tedious traveling? Have you sometimes felt dizzy after a long flight? If yes, the chances are that you may be suffering from ‘desynchronosis’ or jet lag, to put it in layman’s terms. Jet lag is a physical condition, usually triggered when the body’s inner clock is not in tune with the time zone you are currently in. It affects most travelers and even regular fliers like flight attendants and pilots. As you travel to new places, the altitude and pressure changes. Your body may at times, find it difficult to fine-tune itself to its new surroundings, with the result that your system goes haywire. Long-haul flying can be exhausting. Uneasiness like fatigue, disorientation, irritability, swollen limbs and eyes, headaches, cold-like symptoms, irregular bowels, headaches, and poor sleep may just add to your plight. Dehydration, unfamiliar foods, cramped spaces, recycled air, lack of sleep, uncomfortable clothes, continual low-level noise, connections that disrupt sleep, and such other factors add to the misery of jet lag. This can even make you feel jet lagged when you're just a little beat up. However, if you want to attend to your business or enjoy the vacation time, after getting down from the plane, it is important to get over jet lag. In this relation, the remedies given below will surely come to your rescue.
Image: Debarka Banik@flickr
 
How To Get Over Jet Lag Fast
 
  • If you are planning to undertake a long journey, ensure you follow a steady sleeping routine. If you are going west, it is advisable to go to bed and wake up an hour later than usual, and for an eastward trip, go to bed and wake up an hour earlier, for at least 3 days before the trip. This way, your body clock won’t get strained during the flight.
  • Eat well before you travel. Keep away from greasy and oily food, caffeine, alcohol and cigarettes. Go for a balanced diet.
  • Make yourself comfortable during the journey. Recline your seat, relax your legs and adjust the AC.
  • If you are on an overnight flight, use ear plugs, a neck pillow, blankets and a sleep mask to help you get some sleep while you travel.
  • Keep yourself well hydrated, by drinking water and other fluids. It particularly helps in dry environment.
  • After a long flight, expose yourself to light, as that may help to reset the lagging.
  • Melatonin tablets might just prove handy to relieve you off the jet lag. It’s believed that melatonin helps the hormones to adjust to a new time zone. However, a physician’s advice is needed before taking the medicine.
  • To avoid worsening the situation; do not sleep immediately after you land. Keep awake till your normal timings. However, if you fail to keep yourself awake, take a short power nap. Sleeping during the day will only aggravate your discomfort.
  • Eight hours of sleep every day, for a week, may help you cut down on the fatigue and depression. Also avoid afternoon nap and eat healthy to feel better.

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