Long-Haul Flights and Jet Lag

Direction matters

Travelling east is generally harder than travelling west, because you are asking your body to sleep earlier rather than later. A trip from the US to Europe is usually worse than the reverse.

Knowing this helps you plan. Give yourself a gentler first day on eastward trips, and expect early waking on westward ones.

Shift slightly before you go

Moving your sleep by an hour a day for two or three days before departure reduces the gap you have to close on arrival. It is not always practical, but it helps when it is.

Set your watch to destination time when you board. It sounds trivial, but it changes how you think about eating and sleeping during the flight.

On the flight

Sleep according to the destination's night, not the departure city's. Drink water regularly, move around every couple of hours, and be careful with alcohol, which makes the recovery worse.

An eye mask and earplugs do more for sleep quality than almost anything else you can carry.

• Set your watch to destination time at boarding
• Sleep on the destination's schedule where possible
• Water regularly, alcohol sparingly
• Move around the cabin every two hours

The first day at the destination

Daylight is the strongest signal your body has. Get outside in the morning if you flew east, and in the late afternoon if you flew west.

Avoid a long nap. If you must sleep, keep it under about thirty minutes and set an alarm.

Plan the itinerary around it

Do not schedule anything expensive, important or physically demanding on the first day. It is the day most likely to be wasted, so plan it as a light one.

For trips under four days across many time zones, it can be more sensible to stay on home time as far as possible rather than trying to adjust twice.