Jet lag: how to beat it on long-haul trips

Start two or three days out. Move your bedtime and wake time 30 to 60 minutes toward the destination each day. For an eastbound trip that means going to bed earlier and getting up earlier, with bright light in the morning. For a westbound trip it means the opposite: stay up later, sleep in a little, and get light in the evening.

Book flights that land in the late afternoon or evening when you can. Arriving with a few hours of daylight left lets you stay awake to a normal local bedtime, which is the single most useful thing you can do on day one. A flight that lands at 6am forces you to survive a whole day on no sleep.

On the plane, set your watch to destination time and behave accordingly. If it is night at the destination, sleep. If it is morning there, stay awake and read. Drink water steadily and go easy on alcohol, which fragments sleep and dehydrates you. Eat lightly on the flight if you will land near a meal time.

Choose a seat where you can control light: a window seat lets you open or close the shade, and an eye mask does the same job anywhere. Earplugs or noise-cancelling headphones help you sleep on a full flight.

Light is the main signal your clock reads. Get bright outdoor light in the local morning if you have flown east and need to advance your clock: 30 to 60 minutes outside, ideally before 10am, no sunglasses. If you have flown west and need to delay your clock, get light in the late afternoon and evening instead, and keep the morning dim.

Avoid the wrong light. After an eastbound flight, bright light in the local evening pushes your clock the wrong way, so dim the room, lower screens and skip the late walk under streetlights. After a westbound flight, bright morning light is the thing to avoid for the first couple of days.

Anchor the day with a fixed wake time and get up when the alarm goes, whatever the night was like. Naps are fine but keep them short, 20 to 30 minutes, and before mid-afternoon. A long evening nap is the fastest way to lose a night's sleep. If you wake at 3am, stay in bed in the dark and rest rather than turning on lights and scrolling.

Meals help a little. Eating at local meal times, and fasting on the flight when you will land near a meal, gives your clock another cue. It is a supporting act, not the main one.

Melatonin is a hormone your body makes in the evening to signal night. Taken as a supplement at the right local time it can shorten jet lag, especially eastbound. Timing matters more than dose: a common approach is a small dose in the local evening for the first few nights at the destination, but rules differ by country and product, so check what is sold where you are going and ask a pharmacist or clinician. Melatonin is not a sedative; it shifts the clock rather than knocking you out.

Caffeine is a tool with a deadline. A coffee on arrival morning helps you stay awake to a normal bedtime. Caffeine within about six hours of your target bedtime will make falling asleep harder, so switch to water in the afternoon. Do not use caffeine to push through a whole first day and then expect to sleep well that night.

Prescription sedatives and antihistamine sleep aids are a bigger decision. They can get you through a flight but do not shift your clock, and they can leave you groggy on arrival. Some cause dependence. Talk to a doctor before using them for travel, particularly if you have any heart, breathing or mental health condition.

Sleep apps and wearables can show you a rough picture of your sleep, but treat the numbers as a trend, not a diagnosis.

The plan itself is close to free. The costs are optional: an eye mask, earplugs and a refillable bottle are a few dollars each; melatonin is inexpensive where it is sold over the counter; a lounge or a day-use hotel room for a shower and a nap on a long layover is the biggest optional spend. None of it is required to adjust.

Time is the real budget. Expect to feel off for about one day per time zone crossed, so a 5-zone trip is a few rough days and a 10-zone trip is closer to a week. Most travellers notice the worst on the first two days and are largely normal by day three to five. Starting the shift before you fly can save a day or two.

If you have a fixed event on arrival, work backwards: land in daylight, stay up to a normal local bedtime, and protect the first night's sleep. That single sequence does more than any gadget.

Some trips do not follow the one-zone-per-day rule. Very short trips of two or three days are often easier if you keep your home sleep schedule and use local time only for work. Night flights that land in the morning are the hardest pattern; if you can choose, land in the afternoon or evening. Travel with a baby or toddler needs its own plan: keep the child's routine as close to normal as possible, get them outside in morning light, and expect a few early wake-ups.

Shift workers, people with insomnia and anyone with sleep apnoea may find jet lag lingers. If your sleep is still badly broken two weeks after arrival, or you are falling asleep during the day in a way that affects safety, see a doctor. Persistent insomnia, low mood or anxiety after a long trip is also worth a conversation, not something to push through.

If you have a heart condition, uncontrolled blood pressure, epilepsy, or a history of depression or bipolar disorder, talk to your clinician before using melatonin or sedatives, and before a trip that crosses many time zones.

No single method wins. The strongest results come from combining a pre-flight shift, correctly timed light and a fixed wake time. Supplements and gadgets are add-ons that help at the margins.