Bel Arg wrote
My technique was never to force my body to change to the local time.
Tired...? Went to bed... Getting awake...? Stayed up.
I had breakfast (or equivalent) at times, when local time was 10:00pm.
Or dinner, and enjoy a glass of wine, at 07:00am "local time"...
Sounds great in principle, but as others have said you don't always have the option Bel Arg, either as SLF or crew. It is a frequent occurrence to have to don the uniform just when your body clock wants you to go to bed. Personally I find the Europe-US East Coast 24 layovers among the worst, with the red eye flights back over the pond a killer, I would much prefer a 16 hour East Coast slip - unfortunately they are few and far between - bl00dy passengers and schedules and commercial considerations
I reckon I spend about 6 nights a month out of bed, and those are hours of sleep that are basically lost for ever. Quality of sleep in an aircraft bunk is lousy and I can't manage controlled rest in the seat at all.
So how do I deal with jetlag? I agree in principle with BelArg - eat when hungry, sleep when tired and it's possible, try to build up a few hours of sleep credit to draw on, etc.
In March, I had a total of 68 hours of time zone change in 11 flights (or over 2 hours per day, 6 hours per flight) and it was tough, to say the least, and certainly not something I see as being healthy to do into your 60's. When you have a block of holiday, you only towards the end (if then) fully settle into a routine associated with your time zone.