Jet Lag Remedies

With vacation season heating up, many of us may be jumping in a car or a plane to head off to an exciting destination. Travel is stressful enough with all our lists and to-dos, so one of the things I make sure I carry with me are my favorite Jet Lag Remedies. Sleep is a must amidst the stress of travel! Jet lag can be a tricky beast, but as a frequent international traveler, I have some experience in this department …especially because I’m not a gifted sleeper. The sleep experts say it takes one full day for every time zone you cross! I definitely learned to shift a lot faster than that thanks to healthy jet lag remedies. Here are my 5 go-to healthy remedies that promote that gentle nudge into your new time zone in a really effective way. 

Tip #1 Melatonin

My most important remedy for resetting my body/mind clock is Melatonin. Our bodies are very crafty with this hormone and we get quite predictable with it. Its why we get sleepy at the same time of night, and why we generally wake up on schedule. That gets pretty jacked when we flip our clock, but the great thing about Melatonin is that our body recognizes it and flips fairly easy if we use it correctly and limit ourselves with over-use.

First and foremost, try to stay awake in your new destination until bedtime even if you arrive in the morning (I realize this is difficult). 15 minute cat naps can be helpful …but not much more than that because you want to move your clock forward into your new time zone. Deep, restorative sleep on your original time will only delay your shift into your new time zone. If you are tired by bedtime and haven’t wired back up yet, then just leave your melatonin by your bed if you need it. You will likely wake (maybe not the first night), but the next few nights at 3 or 4 in the morning. This is when the Melatonin becomes your new best friend. Take a few milligrams (I prefer liquid b/c its easy and fast). Lay right back down (NO SCREENS) and relax, deep breathe to a count of 5 a few times and relax back into sleep. You can repeat this if you wake back up in the next hour or two, and then repeat the Melatonin remedy for two more nights. On the 4th night, NO more melatonin because you need your body to be producing its own melatonin by this point. You have other options also to turn to, but NO melatonin after the 3rd night. 

Tip #2 - Get a Massage!

You are going to LOVE Travel Tip #2 …because its massage time! Massage is amazing for the body on a good day, but on a day when you’ve been traveling across more than a time zone or two, its almost a necessity (that’s great justification isn’t it)! 😉 In all truth and sincerity, I find a huge difference in my sleeping ability when I’ve had a massage.

ANY kind of massage will work due to massage’s highly beneficial effect on the lymph system, but In my extensive experience with Thai massage, I actually find it to be the most effective with jet lag. Thai is not only the King of massage techniques …its also the yoga of massage. The methodology of Thai massage involves a lot of twisting, wringing out toxins while also focusing on the health and detoxification of the skin (our largest organ) just as much as the fascia and muscles. My physical therapist is also my massage therapist and she has incorporated many Thai techniques into her methods because of how effective they are at freeing up blocked energy and releasing toxins. Of course, Thai massage isn’t available everywhere, so Foot Reflexology & Deep Tissue are great alternatives. You just want to make sure you allow your body to release the build-up of toxicity that occurs every day that your brain tends to begin to dump out when you achieve deep sleep …..which you have been deprived of for a day or two. BE SURE to drink lots of water after your massage …and throughout the day to assist in your body detox that will continue hours after your massage! Skin brushing (which I cover in Tip #5) is also a great follow up for massage which will even further stimulate the lymph and support the detoxification build-up from jet lag. Plus, your skin will start to glow from all that healthy blood flow!

Tip #3 - Get extra Magnesium!

Travel Tip #3 is actually one of my standard maintenance sleep habits. The western world, as a general rule is deficient in Magnesium. Our high stress lifestyle leads to a great deal of this specific deficiency. The west doesn’t have rest built into our culture like a lot of eastern cultures do, which eventually affects a people as generations and generations don’t stop to rest and regroup. Stressful lifestyles also cause stressful response hormones, which require a lot of magnesium to regulate, resulting in the depletion of your magnesium stores, not to mention stressing out your adrenals, thyroid and other stress response organs. Its one big vicious cycle. Then, when we travel (especially across time zones), stress is piled on top of existing depleted minerals in our body.

I really love taking a Magnesium supplement at night. There are tremendous benefits to adding in Magnesium on a regular basis to your daily supplement intake. I also do magnesium salt baths for sleep maintenance and if you have a bathtub while traveling, this is a great way to relax. *Sidenote: Don’t take a bath your first few nights as one of the things about jet lag is your body clock has still not shifted. My Dad (a former pilot who is familiar with flying the middle of the night and having to adjust sleep habits) swears by a very quick cold shower before going to sleep. This lowers your body core temp and you will sleep better. By night 4 or 5, a warm salt bath is ok, which gives you a little extra osmosis magnesium. I usually wait until I’ve flipped my clock for the salt bath. All around, magnesium is a wonderful supplement with added benefits, including metabolism support, digestion aid, anti-anxiety, reducing of depression and of course, wonderful deep, restorative sleep!!

Tip #4 - Inversions!

Travel Tip #4 sounds a little crazy, but stay with me! Inversions are a fantastic way to reset the body. The Antigravity instructor in me really recommends ZERO compression inversions for day to day maintenance, but for travel, there is another wonderful LOW-EXERTION inversion that will really come to your aid regarding sleep …LEGS up the WALL. 😉 Don’t be intimidated by the word “inversion.” Anything that places your heart above your head qualifies as an inversion and brings a tremendous amount of benefits to the body. Legs up the wall is one of my absolute most favorite inversions for relaxation because it is the menagerie of inversion benefits with little to no effort. Primarily, it helps reduce edema and swelling in the feet and legs …a bit of a given after an international flight. It is highly meditative and brings a lot of calm to the nervous system. Blood carries Oxygen, so when you are making it easy for that fresh O2 to get to your brain, your body is happy, calm and can rest, as if you are saying to your body “Here you go, let me help you out a little.” Inversions are also highly beneficial to digestion since we are in a sense, turning our digestive organs upside down giving them a chance to refresh and replenish …letting gravity do a little house-cleaning. 

Legs up the wall should be a 10-15 minute inversion, calming, with soft meditative music or silence and deep breathing. Breathe in for 5 counts, hold, breathe out for 5 and increase that a second each breath cycle. Let your breath become natural after you reach 10 and relax into the posture and take in all the benefits of this simple, relaxing inversion. Get into bed pretty soon after and let your body continue to relax and drift into sleep. 

*Contra-indications for inversions: If you have high blood pressure, glaucoma or pregnancy, talk to your doctor before you try inversions.

Tip #5 - Non-Pharmaceutical Natural Remedies & Water!

Any one who knows me well knows I DO NOT like pharmaceuticals. Of course, there are extremely valid reasons for medications …disease control, severe issues. Nevertheless, SO many of our ailments and conditions can be managed and improved by diet and alternative health ...SLEEP being a big one. Sleep is a basic human need and without the right kind of sleep, we can rapidly deteriorate in health. There are so many valid and effective natural alternative remedies out there. Any and all of those remedies can be used for jet lag. In fact, they are much more effective for long-term sleep health because they are non-habit forming and don’t kick the can of restorative sleep down the road (unlike Ambien or other equally destructive pharmaceuticals on the body). 

My favorite remedies for sleep are primarily homeopathic and natural. God gave us plants and trees for a reason. I swear by essential oils for a myriad of issues …sleep being a big one. Lavender & Vetiver are both wonderful for promoting healthy sleep. Frankincense is also a very effective & calming oil, which produces a wonderful sense of well being. I also love Bach Flower Remedies ...White Chestnut being my favorite, specific for calming a churning mind at night. Coffea Cruda is another very effective homeopathic remedy for the same issue. I like to have multiple remedies so that your body can get a little “tripped up." The human body is so incredibly adaptive that its very good to confuse it. I also really really believe in skin brushing. Priming our skin (by brushing) is a great way to allow homeopathic remedies to effectively work in the body …especially as we make room for the lymph to flow and make space for whatever your body needs. Clear out the goop so we can move in the goodness that our body is asking for!! That brings me to my last point …LISTEN to your body! A good time to ask your body what it needs is during an inversion. When you are “Legs up the Wall,” its a great time to tune in and listen to your gut (literally). Your body will tell you. Trust your intuition, and give it loads of water, especially during travel!

Thanks for tuning in. I hope these tips help you on your next international trip …and just all around good, restorative, nightly, sleep! 😉