How to beat jet lag
No matter how effective your usual self care and consistent your sleep hygiene, changing time zones during travel can wreak havoc on any traveler’s internal body clock. It can take 1-2 days to reset your inner circadian rhythms for each time zone you have passed through, potentially taking away from your enjoyment or productivity on your trip.
The next time you fly, consider incorporating the following steps to help you land refreshed, adventurous and ready to take pride in your work or extra zeal in your vacation shenanigans:
1. Set your watch to the time of the place you are going as soon as you head out the door for the airport. From the moment you begin your travels, make an attempt to match your sleeping and eating times to the time zone of the place you are going.
2. While on the plane, be sure to stay hydrated, internally and externally. Simple self care can fall by the wayside, particularly when travel plans gets hectic or go awry. Dehydration is associated with headaches, poor sleep, poor digestion, and joint discomfort, none of which will make for a more pleasant flying experience or less stressful landing. Also, consider using a face lotion or serum before take off and before landing. The recirculated air and changes in air pressure can cause dryness making skin more reactive to unfamiliar surroundings and perhaps heightened pollution levels or other environmental differences. By giving your skin an additional barrier and moisture you are protecting yourself from uncomfortable dryness or cracking which can lead to the additional discomfort of acne, and will certainly lead to having a second thought before posting travel selfies.
3. Upon arrival in your hotel, or final destination, settle in with a restorative inversion. To keep the mind focused, you may like to listen to common phrases on tape if you are traveling somewhere with a language different than your own, or perhaps listen to your
favorite music or guided mediation while focusing on calming and luxuriating in your breath, allowing the jaw to loosen with every exhale. Physically, any time your hips are over your heart, is it considered an inversion. An easily accessible option, even for non-yogis, is to lay on your back with a pillow under your hips and the backs of your legs resting on wall. By reversing your orientation to
gravity for 5-10 minutes, blood drains more efficiently back to the heart and the brain and face will receive more oxygenated blood and the face will be less likely to look haggard or tired. Additionally, in inversions, the lymph systems of the body drain more efficiently than during sleep, allowing you to come out of your pose feeling refreshed as soreness-causing lactic acid that may have settled into your lower body during your long flight starts to be circulated out.
4. When it is time to sleep in the time zone you are in, take Instasleep. Instasleep, an American made over-the-counter sleep aid created by a doctor that is taken as a mint melt 10-15 minutes before sleep. This non-habit forming product has been approved for relief of occasional sleeplessness and is a great option for managing sleep during travel. Instasleep is the only over the counter option that combines melatonin, 5-HTP, as well Gaba. These three ingredients work synchronously with one another to relax and calm for deep sleep as well as helping you to regulate your sleep cycle and get to sleep sooner with no drowsiness or grogginess upon waking up. This is a particularly helpful solution when your physical body is naturally awake, but you are trying to get to sleep.
5. Maintain your usual time specific rituals in your new time zone. If prayer, meditation, or physical exercise are daily morning or evening practices for you, try to maintain them in whatever capacity you can in your time zone and surroundings. Allow them to anchor
you back into your daily routine, even when the day feels as though it comes at the wrong time. On your next cross time zone adventure, be sure to tag @bsgdispatch in your travel photos and let us know what steps work best for you in getting your body clock reset
and looking and feeling well rested. If you are interested in looking even more well rested for your next vacation or upon your return from it, consider scheduling a consultation with Barber Surgeons Guild in beautiful Los Angeles, for our advanced medical grooming services which include laser facials, as well as botox and fillers for facial rejuvenation. Book your services here.
Happy flying!
