Jet lag- how do you deal with it??

[night mission]

Greeting,
Just finished a 12 trip with 24 time zones (west bound) and into 48+ hrs off and still turned around. Hard enough on the road, but now having to adjust to family and "normal" sch, can't seem to get adjusted. I'm 47 and have been doing this for some time, but could use some fresh advice on transitioning back to "normal" life.:ooh:

[Waka Rider]

Binge drink till I fall over hopefully on wife, then sleep till morning. Other plan do not eat fatty foods or high carbs green salads and soup etc. Light exercise like a brisk walk or jog then read Operations Manual. Sure fire way

[night mission]

Yea well the drinking thing is also getting harder as I get older:uhoh: The other ideas are worth a reread. It seems to be getting worse, at least this time. I'm up at 0500, awake since 0200 with about 2 hours, max sleep. I know whats coming, about 1300 I'll fall over dead, won't need the ops manual than!:{
It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have important things to do this week. Three days of training, and I'm in my grace month. Not looking forward to later this week, nor the 15 day trip later in the month. Figure to be properly rested by than.:sad:

[WG774]

Taken from CAA (http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/FOD199810.PDF)


In the light of what is now known about melatonin, its use by flight and cabin crew is not recommended. Because melatonin will cause sleepiness and impair performance immediately after ingestion, and because the after-effects could be detrimental to operational efficiency, the use of this compound less than 12 hours before the start of a flying duty period and on board an aircraft should be forbidden.

Try Google for "CAA Melatonin" and related searches.

If you're going to use it, best make sure you're not working for a while...

BTW, I do know people who swear by Melatonin, but they're not professional pilots... There are also other risks to be aware of, so Google is your friend in this instance.

[night mission]

Thanks all for your suggestions, will read some of the websites as time permits. Called my "personal" doc and requested a sleep aids. Was given a new "aid", Lunesta 3mg. Needed something as I was sch for some gnd school and needed to get on track faster than nature was going. Did three nights, one more than I planned or hoped, Worked pretty good and keep me awake during some tough lectures!:ugh: Still find it disturbing that at 47 I'm taking over three days to adjust to normal schedules. I don't remember (on this trip) hanging on to my "legacy" time zone as long as its taking me to re find my "home" zone.
Have tried melatonin a couple years ago on the return home (attempt) to adjust and it didn't work. Some on my colleges suggest it required patience to get this to work, or maybe it was just a bigger dose??:eek: any thoughts?

[Non Normal]

Night Mission,

Melatonin never worked for me, at any of the dose I tried. All it did was to make me even more grumpy than usual. Then again, I seem to be quite resistant to "sleep aids" anyway, so my experience is probably not representative of most people's reaction.

I have, however, found an incredibly effective remedy for sleeplessness.
The remedy is boring lectures. No matter how alert and awake I am, I am off like a light within 10 minutes. I suggest you find a boring lecture and tape it, and play it to yourself just prior to going to bed. You may even be able to start a roaring business helping people to sleep. :}

Actually, even though it sounds like I'm taking the pee, I am not. I find that reading a very boring book also helps me to get to sleep much better than pharmaceuticals do, and it is a "safer, cleaner" way of helping myself to sleep.