Is it jet lag?

Nope. A couple of days and I'm good. It's more difficult adjusting to time zones upon returning home.

No jet lag in either direction, but many days/weeks of Returner's Remorse on coming back to the US.

We're tired when we arrive (can't sleep on a plane) but great by the next day if we've stayed up and gone to bed at a normal hour. We did have one instance where we were awake and weirded out at 3:00 AM that first night but just that once.

No problems coming home either although the trip is even more wearing because we're depressed about the trip being over. Wah.

We've suffered jet lag several days in to our trip on more than one occasion. This summer it was particularly annoying because we seemed to have tag team jet lag going, just when one of us was perky and wanting to go out the other person was crashing and needing a nap!

My worst experience of jet lag coming home was after a 4 month stay in Europe and I needed to go back to work. I kept waking up at 3 or 4 AM. After the second week I told my husband if I was stuck on this time pattern I might as well just move back to Europe. Fortunately my night time waking ended about then.

I think it is a very individual thing but I do think the longer you are in a different time zone and the greater the distance you have from your home zone are factors.

I guess it is very individual. I'm fine until day four and then the severity varies, but nothing to make me feel miserable or exhausted, just feel a bit off. Overnight flights on the other hand I hate, as I love to sleep...

For me the second night after arriving is the worst. Lots of tossing an turning and falling in and out of sleep. f it's real bad I find my self waking up at 2am and not being able to get back to sleep until 4-5am. Exercise and sleeping pills help.

DJ

I seem to adjust immediately upon arrival if I go to bed no earlier than 9 pm the first night. Coming home it takes about a week to stop being drop-dead tired at 8 pm--my typical weeknight bedtime is 10:30-11. I don't have any issues with wanting to sleep at 2 pm or awake at 3 am etc.

Does anyone else get jet lag after a few days?

Wray, in answer to your question, it probably depends on the individual and what their habits are. However, after more than several decades of business travel to Europe and Asia, I regularly experienced the "jet lag" feeling (or "out of sorts", as you say) about the third day after arrival. It was always worse traveling from Asia back to North America. Now that I'm retired and only travel for leisure, I still don't plan anything strenuous on the third day after arriving somewhere far away. It's a matter of knowing your own body and how much rest and/or activity you need in those first few days after long-haul travel. Walking, being out in fresh air, and keeping hydrated have always been my best "jet lag" remedies.

As I always say, there are two effects here. One is true jet lag, or desynchonization, which is due to you circadian rhythms being still on the time back home. The other is travel fatigue, the result of dehydration and not enough sleep.

If some day we can instantly teleport to Europe, we won't suffer from travel fatigue, but we will still experience jet lag. On the other hand, today, if you fly from home to the same time zone in South America, you won't have jet lag (except for the difference in the day length), but you will suffer travel fatigue from long hours on a plane.

Selfishly, I'm happy to know several of you have the suddenly appearing jet lag after a few days. I always wondered about that as that is why I always thought was the jet lag. So it has been confirmed that struggling through the first day after overnight flights is just being tired from not sleeping, not from jet lag...that's why I take away from this (and that's why I try my best to take the day flight to London). Thanks all. It's interesting to see how everyone is affected differently.

Wray its worst for me on day 2-3, when the initial adrenalin rush has passed, and the body clocks are still adjusting. Its not just daylight that you're adjusting to, its mealtimes, blood sugar, caffeine intake, etc., in other words, your whole metabolism has to adjust, not just your sleep cycle. I envy people who get over it quickly.

I'm not an experienced traveler, as I flew to Europe for the first time last year. My wife, son and I were all fried the first day, none of us being able to sleep on the plane, so we were essentially awake for two days. But we pushed through the arrival day in London and actually didn't get to bed until 11 p.m. or so that night. Happily, we all felt fine in the morning after a decent night's sleep and were never troubled with jet lag the next 11 days. We had some long, exhausting days, but that was just a matter of being busy and tired, not jet lag, per se.

And none of us had any real problem adjusting once we got home. Lucky us, I guess. I'm hoping for a similar experience when we travel to Italy next year.

Flying direct from the west coast, here SFO to Frankfurt, London or Paris CDG , you have a choice of taking a morning flight or one at 2 to 4pm, depending on the carrier. After a few hours you're flying into the darkness. That is the time slot I take so that I land the next day prior to noon, the earlier in the morning the better. That works. No matter which departure time, the duration is close to 11 hours direct. As long as I land in the morning, that's the main thing. I don't get jet lag, not in the last 16 years.

In the 1990s the first 3-4 nights after turning in at 11 pm or midnight on the first day, I'd sleep for maybe 2 hours, wake up and stay awake for the next three hours or more....not since 2001 is that any longer the case. No problems sleeping during the 11 hour flight, though sometimes more, other times less but I still sleep enough by landing time. I don't feel at all zonked, exhausted upon landing, and after a hot meal at the train station, even better. in terms of feeling normal. After 2-3 days the fatigue and exhaustion don't kick in either.

So it has been confirmed that struggling through the first day after overnight flights is just being tired from not sleeping, not from jet lag.

Wray, for me the struggling through the first day is a combination of being tired and dealing with jet lag. I'm lucky if I get an hour of sleep on the plane. When I land, I know it's 9:30am in Paris for example, but my body thinks it's 2:30am at home and it's time to go to sleep. I'm tired and wired at the same time, if that makes sense. That feeling lasts until about 1pm, when I get so tired I stop thinking straight. I take a nap for an hour and then I feel much more awake and on Paris time.

The first night I'll fall asleep at a normal time, but I wake up at 3:00am and can't go back to sleep until 5:00 or so. That's jet lag. The next morning I'll sleep late because I was up in the middle of the night, but that day I'll feel firmly on Paris time.

For me, jet lag lasts one day when I get to Europe and up to two weeks when I get home. I think this is psychological. I'm excited to be on vacation so I get over jet lag quickly. At home, it's back to my routine and there's nothing new or exciting to do.

So clearly we are all different and I guess there is no 'one' jet lag. I, too, take a long time to adjust when I get home...it is the only time I'm a morning person so that is interesting.

You folks on the west coast...I can't fathom being on a plane for 11 hours. I was once on a plane delayed and on the tarmac, making the in plane period 9 hours and I thought I'd go nuts. Never again. I'm stopping a lot on any such long flight (I say).

We have flown many times to and from Europe. It is usually a 9 hour flight, with an 1.5 hour flight prior to that one. Flying to Buenos Aires is like flying to Europe. Also, we have flown a few times to East Asia or Australia on 14 hour flights. Those are the brutal ones. I don't sleep well on airplanes. We always go tourist.

We always stay up until at least 7pm before we go to bed the first day after an overseas flight. We usually sleep 12 hours and the next day is not so bad. After the third day, jet lag is no more.

As we get older, the travel seems to wear on us more. So we plan land trips in conjunction with either a TransAtlantic cruise or TransPacific cruise. That way you only have to fly in one direction.

It is wise to drink plenty of water on your flights and try not to overdo the alcohol. I find that watching movies seems to pass the time the fastest. On a flight from Korea to Atlanta, I watched four movies.

I myself have not done it yet, but I know a lot who have, flying at least 14 hours direct from SFO to Japan, or Shanghai. I can't imagine how I would feel doing that but it's on the bucket list.

I don't think I suffer from jet lag going to Europe. When I arrive in Europe like most I try to stay up until at least 9 or 10 pm and get a good nights sleep. I am an early riser and to that extent, I try to stay on an early to bed, early to rise schedule.

My main travel fatigue occurs after I have arrived home. I will again try to stay up until 9 or 10 pm before going to bed. But I seem to always wake up at 3 am and can't get back to sleep. This normally happens for 2 or 3 days.