1 – Anticipate the time change for trips by getting up and going to bed earlier several days before an eastward trip and later for a westward trip. 2 – If you're wearing a watch, change the time to the destination time zone when entering the plane. 3 – Avoid drinking alcohol during your flight.
It is widely acknowledged that jet lag is worse when travelling east, but this has nothing to do with the direction of Earth's rotation. Like many creatures, humans have a circadian rhythm that follows a 24-hour period and is kept in sync by the eyes' response to natural light levels over the day.
Common ways pilots avoid jetlag is staying hydrated, good rest, avoiding caffeine and alcohol, exercising, or sleeping on the airplane. For long-haul flights airlines use multiple pilots for the flight to allow each pilot to get some rest. The more time zones that are crossed, the worse the jet lag.
Most people find that jet lag is worse when traveling east than it is when traveling west. View Source . Jet lag differs based on the direction of travel because it's generally easier to delay your internal clock than advance it. Jet lag does not occur on north-south flights that do not cross multiple time zones.
Your body treats melatonin as a darkness signal, so melatonin tends to have the opposite effect of bright light. The time when you take melatonin is important. If you've flown east and need to reset your internal clock to an earlier schedule, take melatonin nightly in the new time zone.
Adjust your sleep-wake schedule: Getting on the sleep-wake schedule at your destination quickly may help with jet lag symptoms. Focus on getting quality sleep: Sleeping on the plane, if you can, may help your body adjust faster to a new time zone.
According to experts, not eating while you fly can actually help to reduce jet lag. (And that's not the only thing your flight attendant won't tell you.) Turns out, traveling on a plane can do a lot of bad things to your body—including shutting your digestive system down once you reach a high altitude.
In addition to shift work, the two types of employees who work on aircraft, pilots (also known as flight deck or flight crew) and cabin crew (also commonly known as flight attendants), regularly experience jet lag.
Researchers have found that, on average, it takes people about one day to adjust for each 1 to 1.5 hours of time change. So if you fly from the East Coast to the West Coast, which is a three-hour time difference, you should be over your jet lag in two to three days.
1 Water. It goes without saying that staying hydrated is probably the most important thing a flight attendant can do. It is recommended as a minimum that you should drink at least 0.25 liters per every hour in the air. Airlines usually supply their crews with drinking water.