Hi, I'm Tynan! I love life and explore its possibilities by ignoring common sense and discovering what is really possible. If you are sick of the Standard 9-5 Lifestyle and want more out of your life, you're in the right place.
Someone (@philiplilly) asked me how I deal with jet lag. I fired off a quick answer (“adjust to the target time ASAP”), which I only later realized isn’t what I actually do. It’s what everyone else does. So here’s what I really do:
I cut my sleep into two chunks, one corresponding to a normal sleep or wake time in the country I’m leaving from, and one corresponding to a normal wake up time in my destination.
So, for example, last week I came to Japan, which is eight hours off from California time. I slept only four hours, from 4:30am to 8:30am, which sounds like it must require intense discipline, but really it ends up being a necessity because I leave all of my travel preparation to the last minute.
By the time I was on my plane, it was 1:10pm in California, which is 5:10am in Tokyo. I waited for fifty minutes and then fell asleep, waking up four hours later at 10:00am Tokyo time. I don’t usually find it easy to sleep on planes, but with only four hours of rest the night before, I drifted off while sitting up straight in my chair. Waking up was easy too, because I had accumulated eight hours of sleep in the recent past, which meant that I was fully rested with a normal Tokyo wake-up time.
Besides just waking up at the right time, I try to simulate it being morning as much as possible: I drink green tea, sit in front of my laptop at maximum brightness, turn on my seat light, and open the window if it’s daytime. I also make sure to set my watch to the destination time before going to sleep.
This method is extremely effective. I was awake and alert all day upon arriving to Tokyo, went to bed easily at a normal hour, woke up at the correct time the next day, and have been on Tokyo time ever since. Give it a try!
Pete
Great advice. As someone who crosses timezones more than you, I have some more advice:
a) In the morning when you’ve arrived, either get outside, or saturate yourself with light. I have a lightbox I made myself that spits out about 400watts of light that I’ll leave on all morning when I’m adjusting if I have to be inside
b) M (your spam filter won’t let me mention this word) is very mild, and works great for helping to reset your cycle. Even better than that, but not appropriate for everyone: get drunk at your desired bedtime – seems to really reset your rythmn
c) If you’re having trouble staying awake in the afternoon of your new timezone, avoid eating after a big breakfast. Start grazing about two hours before you want to sleep – I’ve read good science that it sets off your body’s “OK, I can sleep now” chemicals, and I’d found this working practically before I’d even read that :-)