Jet lag to Asia

[Anonymous]

I'm looking for advice for an upcoming trip including a 12 year old, 14 year old, and 19 year old to Asia.

We leave at 12:30 on a Thursday and arrive at 3:40 in Tokyo (direct flight).

I've downloaded the much-recommended Timeshifter App which essentially says to keep things dark and uncaffeinated upon waking up on Thursday until we depart, and then staying in the dark and trying to sleep for a few hours right when we take off, then waking a few hours later and being in the light the rest of the flight.

Has anyone tried to do anything like this and do you have tips? It's going to be real challenge to keep things dark as we get ready to leave our house and go through the airport. I'm telling everyone to avoid watching movies or looking at screens the first few hours of the flight, to put on sleep masks, take dramamine (Xanax for me), and listen to music or an audiobook. This will be hard - everyone will want to watch movies and play video games, but I'll have to try to insist on it! I guess we can also wear sunglasses all morning and in the airport to keep things a little darker?

Then when we land we'll try to be in the afternoon/early morning light as much as possible and stay awake until 8 pm at least.

Any other tips/advice? Does this sound like a good plan?

[Anonymous]

Long flights suck. Let people pass the time as they want.

Wearing sunglasses during the departure day and at the airport will do nothing.

Staying in light and keeping moving until 7pm on your arrival day is all you can do.

[Anonymous]

Some people adjust better than others. I doubt much that you will do can help. When I go to Japan or China I am a walking zombie for the first 4 or 5 days, and I only really start to adapt and not be up until 1am or wake up at 4am after about 10 days. Best of luck to you

[Anonymous]

Honestly, I find Asia an easy change with an afternoon/evening arrival. I rarely sleep on planes (maybe an hour or 2 at a time at most), so I just try to stay up until regular bedtime on arrival then I'm good to go the next day.

It's the flights that arrive early in the morning that I find the hardest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Long flights suck. Let people pass the time as they want.

Wearing sunglasses during the departure day and at the airport will do nothing.

Staying in light and keeping moving until 7pm on your arrival day is all you can do.

So you don't believe in light/circadian rhythm stuff? you think it's all bunk?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Long flights suck. Let people pass the time as they want.

Wearing sunglasses during the departure day and at the airport will do nothing.

Staying in light and keeping moving until 7pm on your arrival day is all you can do.

So you don't believe in light/circadian rhythm stuff? you think it's all bunk?

Ummm, read the last sentence of my comment.

I don't think it's all bunk but I don't think sunglasses will make much of a dent.

[Anonymous]

I haven't found trips to Asia all that bad, yes it's a long time on a plane, but with a 12 - 14 hour time shift - We just got there went to bed, slept 8 hours got up and we were fine. Stay on local time for meals and sleep, and that was it. We did rent an apartment so if anyone woke up at that crazy weird time they could get up and not wake up the rest of the family if we were all in the same hotel room. We often did most of our active stuff first thing in the morning so we could relax as the day went and the tiredness wore off. It was MUCH harder returning to the US - especially if you are trying to get back to work, school etc rather than giving yourself time to adjust.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, I find Asia an easy change with an afternoon/evening arrival. I rarely sleep on planes (maybe an hour or 2 at a time at most), so I just try to stay up until regular bedtime on arrival then I'm good to go the next day.

It's the flights that arrive early in the morning that I find the hardest.

That sounds right- I took a trip to SE Asia 30 years ago, with a connection in Tokyo. So landed around midnight after a 6 hour flight from Tokyo that was brutal because I was trying to sleep because I was so tired (had left home 20 hours upon leaving Tokyo), but then sort of slept too much and couldn't sleep upon arrival at 1 AM at hotel. If you arrive in the mid-afternoon and keep yourself up until say 8 PM you should be okay, although will probably be up pretty early in the morning first day or two.

[Anonymous]

It's person-dependent - I travel with my kids to Asia every year and they aren't too jet-lagged, but I always am. We stick to local time as much as possible - wake by 8am if still asleep, meals at regular times, normal bedtime. We also do prunes at breakfast to encourage daytime bowel movements (sorry TMI)

[Anonymous]

Going over isn't too terrible. Try and get right on their schedule and go to bed at a reasonable time. Coming home is rough. Expect at least 1-2 weeks of jetlag. My son has been to many countries with us and this one did him in. Always worth it, though!

[Anonymous]

I always struggle with jet lag, but Asia is especially tough. It helps to try to get on their schedule as quickly as possible but I do end up taking a good 5 days to fully adjust and often wake up in the middle of the night and struggle to stay awake in the evenings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Going over isn't too terrible. Try and get right on their schedule and go to bed at a reasonable time. Coming home is rough. Expect at least 1-2 weeks of jetlag. My son has been to many countries with us and this one did him in. Always worth it, though!

+1
Even comin back to east coast from Hawaii is bad; jet lag isn't just tiredness you actually feel a little bit sick.

[Anonymous]

I’m planning Chicago to Tokyo with two little kids. Our flight leaves around 5:30pm, lands around 8:30pm. My plan is to not make them try to sleep. They can snack and watch and play. If they get 3-4 hours of sleep, fine. Then we check into a hotel at the airport and hopefully all sleep. My one fear is that my five year old will sleep a full night on the plane and then be raring to go when we get to Tokyo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Long flights suck. Let people pass the time as they want.

Wearing sunglasses during the departure day and at the airport will do nothing.

Staying in light and keeping moving until 7pm on your arrival day is all you can do.

This. Trying to control how your family spends their time on a plane will only cause misery for you and them. If I were your 19 year old I would laugh at you and promptly watch 12 hours of movies. People will have the jetlag experience that they do--let the chips fall as they may.

[Anonymous]

We flew nyc to Singapore last December with an 8, 10 & 13yo. They were all pretty tired by the time the flight took off (shortly before midnight) but we all watched a movie and some ate something, then we slept. Everyone slept at least 6 hours or so and then some of us napped again later. It really wasn’t that bad. We landed @7am in Singapore and got breakfast and sunlight. We had a connecting flight to Hanoi and landed there midday. We took a nap, then pushed through the evening and went to bed @8pm. Then we all slept decently well and then we had a full day the next day and by the day after that we were all pretty adjusted. I agree that a 12/13 hour difference is actually easier in some ways than 6/7 because it gives your system more of a shock but the daylight/nighttime helps more.