Jet Lag Recovery Strategies That Actually Work

Jet lag is your circadian clock being out of sync with local time. The fixes are surprisingly mechanical: light exposure, food timing, melatonin and movement. Done right, you cut recovery from a week to two days.

Before you fly

• Three days out, shift your sleep by 30–60 min per night toward the destination time.
• Pick the flight that arrives in destination evening whenever possible.

On the plane

• Set your watch to the destination time as soon as you board.
• Sleep only if it’s nighttime at your destination.
• Walk and stretch every 90 minutes.

On arrival — the light rule

Light is the strongest signal for your circadian clock.

• Going east (e.g. London → Tokyo): get morning sunlight, avoid evening light.
• Going west (e.g. London → New York): get evening sunlight, avoid morning light.
• Even 20 min outside without sunglasses works.

Melatonin: how to use it

0.5–3 mg, 30 minutes before destination bedtime, for the first 3–5 nights. More is not better — higher doses cause grogginess. Pharmaceutical-grade only.

Food timing

Eat meals at local times from arrival, even if you’re not hungry. A 12-hour overnight fast (last meal 8 pm, breakfast 8 am) resets metabolic clocks fast.

Exercise

A 20-minute morning walk on day 1 reduces jet lag duration by ~30 % in studies. Light exercise, not a hard workout.

What does NOT work

• Sleeping pills (they sedate but don’t reset the clock).
• “Catching up” sleep on weekends.
• Caffeine after noon for the first week.

Time-zone-direction summary