Questions about 'jet lag'

[Paddy]

Bush is leaving (or has left) D.C. about 7 p.m. for 9 days in the middle east. The ME is, what, about 11-12 hours ahead of us.  How do they handle the time difference?  I know I'd be hard pressed to operate at 12 midnight like it was 12 noon (Bush & I are the same age).  Is there a period of 'acclimation' before the trip, or what? 

[drewtam]

$20 says a doctor prescribes sleeping pills for use during the flight and the nights to follow.

[Paddy]

Still, the circadian clock during those daylight hours over there says it's sleepytime.

[BridgeWalker]

More like seven hours difference.  Not too bad.  Sleep on the plane and you're good.  Well, I was, anyway. 

[Gewehr98]

Sleep on the jet, and it doesn't take that long to rebound, anyway, whether you're going from East to West or West to East.  Jet Lag isn't fatal, btw.

[Fly320s]

What works best for me is to follow the sunlight.  I'll get up, or stay up, with the sunrise regardless of how much sleep I've had.  I may be tired for the first day, but by the second day I have adjusted to the local time zone.

Real food, plenty of water, and exercise help to get me adjusted to the new time, too.

[seeker_two]

Functioning?.....he's talking about giving the PLO a nation in return for their decades of terrorism....seems like a major malfunction to me..... 

[Gewehr98]

Fly320, crew dawgs think alike.  We forced ourselves to stay awake until local bedtime, unless we had sorties planned for that night. 

[jrfoxx]

Still, the circadian clock during those daylight hours over there says it's sleepytime.

It's pretty easy to adapt, really.I have personally never had any problems switching from a night to day or vise versa schedule.In fact,I do it every week.I work 6:30pm to 7am sun-tues, and every other wed., but since I want to see my family, I swich hback to a day shedule for my days off.Did the same thing in the Navy when I worked nights, or had watch, etc.Its really not that hard.Drink some coffee and suck it up...We have become WAY to soft as a country.Did I mention coffee is a miracle drug, handed down directly from the gods?

[jefnvk]

Biggest change was +5 hours (Iceland).  Was kinda tired the first day, but was fine the rest of the time.  No issues coming back, either, not even teh first day back.

Biggest issue was getting used to the sun so low on the horizon, much harder than jet lag.