How to get over jet lag faster

Jet lag is your body clock still running on home time. Say you live in Chicago and you're flying to Paris, leaving Friday evening and landing Saturday morning. Paris is 7 hours ahead most of the year. Flying east, your body clock catches up only about an hour a day ¹, so it can take about a week to adjust.

You can shorten that with light at the right times ². For a couple of days before you go, get up a little earlier and get outside. Once you land, wear sunglasses in the morning and get as much afternoon sun as you can.

This plan is for someone who sleeps from 11 to 7. If you usually get up at 8, add an hour to every time below, except the flight. If you get up at 6, make every time an hour earlier, again except the flight.

If your trip is under 2 days, don't try to switch at all. You'd be heading home long before your body caught up, so keep your sleep as close to Chicago hours as you can ¹.

Before you fly

Light soon after you wake pulls your body clock earlier ⁴, so use the two mornings before you fly. Set your alarm half an hour earlier each morning, 6:30 on Thursday and 6 on Friday, and get outside soon after you're up. Step out for whatever time you have, a few minutes or a short walk before work. If it's still dark when you get up, turn the lights on inside and go out once the sun is up.

You'll probably get sleepy a little earlier those nights, and if you can, go to bed half an hour earlier too, so you don't start the trip short on sleep.

Don't expect to land on Paris time. In one lab study, a group of young adults shifted their sleep an hour earlier each day and sat by bright light boxes on and off for hours every morning. After three days, their body clocks had moved about an hour and a half ³. A few minutes outside is a lot less light than that, so you'll still land with most of the 7 hours to make up.

Melatonin can help with jet lag ², but the timing matters, and at the wrong time it can throw your clock further off ¹. If you'd rather not work that out, leave it out and put your effort into the sun and the sunglasses.

On the plane

Sleep as much as you can on the flight, even if it feels early. A glass of wine may help you drop off, but the sleep you get after it is more broken ¹.

If you sleep badly, don't write the day off. One short night is mostly made up within a day, and it's the body clock that takes longer ². If you land saying "I only slept 4 hours, today's going to be horrible," chances are you'll make the day worse than the lost sleep alone would.

Landing day

You land at 9 in the morning, but your body thinks it's 2 a.m. ² Bright light this morning would push your body clock later, which is the opposite of what you need ⁴, so wear your sunglasses whenever you're outside until about noon. You can still get breakfast, drop your bags and walk around if you feel like it.

Why noon? It comes down to the sleepiest point of your body's night ², about 2 to 4 hours before you'd normally wake up ¹. Light before that point pushes your clock later, and light after it pulls it earlier ⁴. For you, that's 3 to 5 a.m. at home, which on landing day is 10 to noon in Paris. So from noon on, take the sunglasses off and get all the sun you can.

If your room's ready and you can't keep your eyes open, nap between 1 and 3. Set an alarm so the nap stays at 20 to 40 minutes, then get straight back outside for the sun.

Go to bed around 11, Paris time, in a dark room, even though for your body it's only 4 in the afternoon ². Tonight you want all the sleep you can get, so if you need coffee to get through the day, have your last one around 3.

The rest of the week

From Sunday on, set an alarm for 7, Paris time, and get up when it goes off. It's tempting to sleep in on a trip, but I'd get up at the same time every morning anyway, because it's one of the most reliable ways to set your rhythm. Keep the room lights low until you head out, for the same reason you're wearing the sunglasses.

Since your body clock moves about an hour a day ¹, take the sunglasses off about an hour earlier each morning. That's 11 on Sunday, about 10 on Monday, 9 on Tuesday and 8 on Wednesday, and by Thursday you can head out first thing, like you would at home.

You don't have to hide in the hotel. Go see the city with your sunglasses on. Don't take them off any sooner than that, though, even on a beautiful morning. If bright light hits before your body clock has caught up, it can push you back the other way ².

Coming home

Flying home goes faster, because it's much easier to push your body clock later than to pull it earlier ². Flying west, people catch up about an hour and a half a day ¹, so expect to be back on Chicago time in about five days.

For the first few days your body is still on Paris time, so by 4 or 5 in the afternoon it'll feel like bedtime. Stay in the light anyway, because light in the late afternoon and evening pushes your clock later, which is what you need now ⁴. If you're back at work, get outside in the late afternoon, even if it's only the walk to your car. At home, keep the lights on and try to stay up until at least 8, then go to bed when you're tired. You'll make it a little later each night.

Mornings are the opposite. If you wake up at 4 a.m., keep the lights low until your alarm, even if you get up. For the first few mornings, wear sunglasses if you're out in the sun early, because this time it's the morning light that would pull you the wrong way ⁴.