I recently returned to Taiwan after a months holiday in the UK and the jet-lag is killing me.
I’ve got most of the symptoms that are listed on WebMD, but the most difficult to deal with are the abdominal pain and adjusting sleep patterns.
The abdominal pain and irregular bowl movements are strange. My wife has got me on a diet of sloppy rice porridge and water but it doesn’t seem to be helping.
My sleep patterns are wacked. I go to bed at around 12am and lie there wide awake until around 5am when I finally fall asleep. Then I get up at around 11am the next day. I can’t go on like this because I need to get back to work soon.
Does anyone have any tips or advice? It’s been like this for 3 or 4 days now and I am starting to get sick of it. I just can’t get back into the Taiwan time zone.
In such a case I might try to stay awake well into the following day, and eventually by the evening I’ll become so sleepy I’ll sleep for a good 12 hours. Then my clock is reset.
That’s my experience too. I fly to the US, and I end up getting up at 7 am refreshed and rested. I fly back to Taiwan, and I end up staying up until 5 am before I feel sleepy.
The key to jet lag is start planning a day or two in advance. Set your watch to the destination time and try to get very little sleep so you can fall asleep on the plane on cue, as close as possible to the correct time sleep at your destination.
Ditto. When I get onto the plane, I immediately adjust my time zone to Taiwan time. So, if it’s an evening boarding time, I stay awake as long as possible. If it’s an evening morning, I try to go to sleep the second I get to my seat. Luckily, I haven’t had to do the latter many times because falling asleep in the middle of the day is definitely harder than trying to stay awake, in my opinion.
Since you’re already passed the flight part, what’s worked for me in the past is trying to get your body physically tired. I know it is tough to go about doing some physical activity/exercise because your stomach is not feeling well, but going out and getting in some exercise like a run or going out on a bike ride in the evening may help.
This will get you physically tired, so when you do plop down into your bed, your body is bound to just shut down and allow you to get some shut eye.
I can’t sleep anywhere if my body is in an upright position, so sleeping on the plane was never an option anyway.
I’m slowly recovering. My stomach is not as bad as it was before and my sleeping patterns are slowly adjusting to normal (last night I slept at around 3am). Give it to the end of the week and I’ll be right
I struggled with jet lag for years – I’ve always had trouble getting to sleep (or to bed, really) and would frequently get crazily off schedule even when I hadn’t travelled anywhere. But in the last six months I have discovered the magic of prescription sleeping pills! Now I just take Estazolam for a few days after I get back from abroad, or when my sleep has otherwise wandered too far off.
I’m not sure why it took me ten years to figure this out.
Funnily enough I’m also suffering from this. I got back from the UK on Sunday 23rd in the early afternoon, totally exhausted, and managed to keep myself awake until bedtime (it REALLY wasn’t easy). I ended up sleeping pretty well and getting up for work the next morning. I thought I’d beaten the jetlag in a single day. Stupid me.
The next evening, not being particularly exhausted, I didn’t get to sleep till after 1 am, but still it wasn’t terrible. The rest of the week was the same. Then Saturday morning rolled around and I slept in to catch up on my lack of sleep during the week. Stupid move. I slept in till nearly 1 PM and then that night I couldn’t sleep till 3:30 AM. I’m still feeling pretty fecked.
I’ve also been a bit nauseous since I got back. I hadn’t even thought about that being connected to jetlag, but I guess it makes sense.
It takes me a week from Yook to East. Sleep and, ahem, ‘digestive issues’. Hormones. Woe betide me and everyone else if I’m surfin’ the crimson wave while ridin’ the iron bird. Fnar.
I used to just drug myself on the plane but now I try and stay natural and drink loads of water – it’s a ballache, trying to get sleeping pills now I’m outside Taiwan. Eat at airports, not on planes so you don’t have to try and pass that stuff that I’m convinced is designed to prevent anyone from defecating for the duration of their trip. No naps, however much you want to: ride it out and sleepsleepsleep. You’ve missed some serious REM so go easy on yourself and don’t expect your brain to be firing on all cylinders.
[quote=“irishstu”]Funnily enough I’m also suffering from this. I got back from the UK on Sunday 23rd in the early afternoon, totally exhausted, and managed to keep myself awake until bedtime (it REALLY wasn’t easy). I ended up sleeping pretty well and getting up for work the next morning. I thought I’d beaten the jetlag in a single day. Stupid me.
The next evening, not being particularly exhausted, I didn’t get to sleep till after 1 am, but still it wasn’t terrible. The rest of the week was the same. Then Saturday morning rolled around and I slept in to catch up on my lack of sleep during the week. Stupid move. I slept in till nearly 1 PM and then that night I couldn’t sleep till 3:30 AM. I’m still feeling pretty fecked.
I’ve also been a bit nauseous since I got back. I hadn’t even thought about that being connected to jetlag, but I guess it makes sense.[/quote]
Time to put some grease on that bike chain and pump some air into those tires and come out for a ride again. Exercise will help!
