Help with Jetlag

NoJetlag seems to help us. I don't distance myself from single malt. Sleep a lot the first two days home. Its normal not to be normal for a few days after a trip.

sally, In my experience so far, the No Jet Lag pills seem to help a bit, but I'm still undecided on how much they help. As I recall, they're supposed to be taken at the beginning of the flight, every two hours and then one after landing. I'll have to test them on a few more trips. I'd suggest leaving a "cushion" of a couple of days after you return before having to go back to work. It usually takes me at least five days to adjust to the new time zone. Happy travels!

We go to Europe every summer and I get a bad case of jet lag going but nothing coming home. We take "No Jetlag Pill" as directed and they do seem to help. I am not sure if it is physical or mental effect. Against all advice I find on this web site, I go to bed as soon as we get checked in to wherever we are first staying in Europe and sleep for a couple of hours while my wife goes out walking. I wake up refreshed and ready to go. If you are experiencing that coming home you might try going to bed as soon as you get home for a couple of hours.

I take a prescription sleeping pill for the first two nights since I've tried just about everything else. Then I have a half pill and a glass of water on my nightstand nights three and four in case I wake up at 2 a.m. Today's sleeping pills do not make you groggy or off kilter if you get the right one. Your doctor will know what to prescribe. I resisted this until upon complaining to my physician during a routine physical how hard a time I had with jet lag he said why don't you take a sleeping pill, I do. Just ask for script for 4 or 5 pills. We don't do dentistry without pain killers and a host of other things. Sleeping pills on a temporary basis like for jet lag just help your body reset itself. Yes sleeping pills are not "natural" but face it jet-lag isn't natural either.

Jet lag is almost gone for me but I don't know if it is because I've been going back and forth for thirty-eight years, or if it's because the world has shrunk with our ability to stay in touch with the home country. In 2000 when we returned from six months overseas, it took me several days physically and three weeks to readjust, rediscover the US and my hometown. Imagine seeing a PT Cruiser for the first time. In 2007 when we returned from 8 months living abroad, there was almost no readjustment or jet lag. The difference: free internet telephones and the ability to read the hometown newspaper every day, a big change from the 1970s when we waited for blue aerograms and called family in the States only on Christmas and mom's birthday. So writing this, I think the jet lag is also aligned with cultural readjustment. There's a physical element which we can overcome pretty easily but the mental is a big part of it (IMHO).

I tried the 'NoJetLag' pills on our last trip to Spain. I did not like the necessity of taking the pill every 2 hours. I also found that after the flight I was really thirsty for about 2 days. This never happens to me and did not happen on the return flight without the use of these particular pills.

sally, I usually don't find it to be too much of a problem to take the No Jetlag pills every two hours, although my timing isn't always "exact". I've never experienced the problem described by Bob in the previous reply, although being thirsty is probably a good thing. The "experts" always recommend drinking lots of water during flights, as people tend to become dehydrated in that environment. The ingredients in the No Jetlag pills are supposedly all organic, so it's a bit puzzling that they would create thirst? I'll monitor that more closely next time I use the pills.

Hi Sally - my jetlag is similar to yours. I have problems sleeping for the first night that I'm in Europe (i.e. fall asleep at 9:00pm or 10:00pm, wake up at 2:00am, go back to sleep at 4:00am). I'm tired the next day but definitely on European time. When I go home, it's a different story. Jetlag lasts for a couple weeks - I fall asleep around 10:00 and wake up between 5:00am and 6:00am. It's a great schedule for going back to work or school right after a trip but I'm a night owl and don't like falling asleep so early. On trips I bring over-the-counter Benadryl or cold pills that cause drowsiness in case I can't fall asleep easily, but I've never taken anything to help prevent jetlag.

Thanks for all the feedbacks. I am also uncomfortable with taking the 'No Jetlag ' pill due to the fact that I need to take it every 2 hours on the plane. I noticed that going to my destination, I have little Jetlag. Perhaps, it is because 2 days before the trip, I stayed up late cramming to get eveything in order- work, personal and tripwise so I kind of prepare myself to the change in time zone whereas , coming back, I basically have adjusted to the existing vacation time zone so it was so very hard to adjust/ acclimate to the time zone here in the united states plus, of course, it is back to reality.

NoJetLag is a homeopathic remedy. Have you ever looked at the ingredients? The 5 active ingredients are arnica, Bellis Perennis (English daisy), chamomile, ipecac(!), and Lycopodium (club moss). Arnica is toxic if ingested in large amounts, and ipecac is used medicinally to make a child throw up if it ate something poisonous. Parents of small children are advised to keep a small bottle of ipecac on hand just in case. But do not worry, under homeopathic principles ( like cures like) these are in quantities so small as to be not there. The dosage of each of the above in NoJetLag is 30C, meaning the original herbal preparation has been diluted 1:100, thirty times. In other words, there is nothing left but the inactive ingredients, sorbitol and magnesium stearate, the binder. You cannot possibly overdoes on it. They tell you to take it every two hours so they can sell it in packages that cover one trip, for $10.49. That also increases the placebo effect, because you re-affirm your belief that it will work every two hours when you take it. It works simply because you believe it will. There is no "cure" for jet lag, your body clock has to be reset, especially if you travel from the West coast to Europe, a nine hour difference. Daylight helps, and possibly melatonin if you knew how to use it (I don'). The timing of your flight has a lot to do with how long it takes to recover as well.

Interesting!

My husband just pointed out an interesting article in the current New Yorker on the placebo effect. Now I'm going to read it. (But I definitely won't take No Jetlag after reading what is (or is not) in it.