UKC

Flew back from Vancouver on Sat night Sunday morning.... 1840 take off landing at 1150.

Got about 3 hours sleep on the plane and last night I slept from about midnight to 0900.

Now I am writing this wide awake at 0330!

It's 1930 vancouver time so suspect my body clock is still set to that even though I slept fairly normally last night.

Suspect I won't get any sleep tonight.... but what are peoples tips for getting things back to normal.

Go to sleep at a normal bedtime on that first night. No earlier, no later. It's tempting to nap but don't. That always works for me. There's no magic cure that avoids a couple of days of feeling wonky but if you break that rule you'll be out of sync for ages. 

Another way is to give yourself a crippling hangover. That resets the clock pretty well.

Slight adjustment to over worked belayers comment is to perhaps go to bed a little earlier than usual. Say a couple of hours.

If you manage to stay awake that long you'll need the extra sleep anyway.

Hopefully your body clock won't wake you up early in which case I retract my comment and suggest you should have listened to the over worked belayer.

I think you have to force yourself into the new time zone right away. Eat, drink, sleep as close to normal times as possible and definitely no in between naps.

Agreed. It starts when you board the plane. Set your watch to UK time and get your sleep pattern in sync with that on the plane. It works very well and you get hardly any jet lag. I'm afraid that advice is a bit late for the OP though, who will just have to work through the current interruption, but remember it for next time

There's no real easy way, other than to get to your normal sleep pattern ASAP, even if it means being awake for an exceptionally long time the first 'day'. Make sure you get up after 8 hours and don't sleep in.

One possible problem with that in the OP's case is that their departure time from Vancouver was 02:40 UK time, so with that approach they should have been boarding the plane while fast asleep!

Also, the timing of the in-flight meals might not fit with that approach.  I'd expect them to serve an evening meal pretty soon after takeoff on an 18:40 departure, and then wake you up with breakfast a couple of hours or so before arrival in the UK.  Mind, this is based on my experience with transatlantic flying back in the 1990s.  I don't know whether they even bother trying to feed you during such flights these days. Taking your own food for the flight would get round that particular problem anyway.

My experience with such flight times from the west coast of North America was that the most effective approach was to work strictly to UK time from arrival, spend one day feeling like sh1t - similar to not sleeping at all the night before - and aim to stay awake until as close as possible to your normal UK bedtime, at which point you sleep the sleep of the dead and wake up at a more or less normal time the next day feeling not too bad.

My employer's policy was that you could have the day off after such a journey but I used to go in to the office anyway.  I felt like a zombie and got approximately zero useful work done but they weren't expecting any work out of me that day anyway, and it meant that there was no chance of me getting any meaningful sleep out of sync with UK time, as my poor confused hypothalamus was pleading for.

My absolute worst experience was when a customer paid for me to be upgraded to business class and I got trashed on the continuous flow of free booze.  Jet lag plus a steaming hangover really, really isn't fun.

Get outside and a good dose of sunshine first thing. Always found that helped me reset the clock

Just sleep. Tried all sorts over the years and I now just go to sleep as soon as I get home.

Try to avoid eating on the flight.Water only.

This sounds entirely normal and matches my experiences after flights back from the west coast of North America. First night okay, second night sucks. Do all the sleeping time stuff recommended above but expect it to take nearly a week to sleep normally again. 

according to the Hubermab lab podcast you can only adjust your internal clock by 30mins each day (which ideally you start prior to the new country) then when in the new country you need to eat meals at the correct time and get exposure to bright sunlight outside first thing in the morning. 

https://hubermanlab.com/find-your-temperature-minimum-to-defeat-jetlag-shif...

By being an insomniac anyway. Don't recommend it as a tactic though. 

Best way is to treat it as a "long day" i.e. don't sleep on the plane and stay awake for as long as you can.  Even if you go to bed at 5pm and get up at 6am, say, you'll be near-reset in one go.

Much easier going west though.

I don't generally drink alcohol on planes, as the dehydration is bad enough due to the very dry air.  They never bring enough water round anyway, I always buy or fill up about 2l in the terminal and carry it on in addition.

Hah, I had to endure that on a flight to San Francisco once, because it was too windy at Heathrow for the food delivery trucks to lift the trolleys up into the galleys.  This was announced with about half an hour before boarding: cue a mad dash of a 747-load of people to the limited number of shops in that part of the terminal to buy sandwiches, crisps, biscuits, anything.  I took one look at the melee and walked away.

Not a particularly wise move as it turned out: by the time we got to the stopover in Vancouver I was starting to get the shakes.  They were able to replenish the galleys there, and announced that everyone on board would get a free glass of champagne by way of apology.  The idea of pouring alcohol into an echoingly empty stomach made that out of the question for me, unfortunately.  The food was welcome, though.  Well, as welcome as airline food ever is...

+1 for the hangover suggestion

Funny, I've just had exactly the same problem flying back from Vancouver on Thurs/Fri via Halifax - awake for most of 34 hours and then was getting about 3 hours a night - worst jetlag I've ever known (conversely flying in the opposite direction is always good for me as it actually gets me out of bed at a reasonable time - I am a massive nightowl!). I can seldom sleep on planes; I'm too short for my feet to touch the floor so it's very uncomfortable!

I think this year the problem was the horrific heat making it almost impossible to catch up on sleep at any time other than a few hours a day, which may not align with your jetlagged body. I have found that the slightly cooler temps since yesterday (and I've come back up north) have made a big difference. So bear with and hopefully you'll catch up.  

Otherwise, yes, fresh air, sunlight and being physically tired probably help. Which is advice I'll give and haven't remotely implemented.

Hope you enjoyed Vancouver (or Squamish).

1. Avoid alcohol and caffeine like the plague on day of departure and on the plane.
2. Ensure you eat when you're meant to be eating on day of departure and on plane (i.e. to-be meal times).  Don't take a meal if you're meant to be sleeping. 
3. Ensure you are out in the daylight when you arrive.  That means up and going by 0800 and no naps.

That free alcohol and coffee will do you no good if you're trying to adjust quickly.

I deal with it by refusing to travel abroad... Although, I'll admit that I once visited Yorkshire and had to adjust my clock back to the late 1970s.

That was the old joke about Rhodesia in the days of Ian Smith: "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Rhodesia, please set your watches to 1940". And a worse joke, "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Riyadh, please set your watches to the year 1400"

Yes, I found out in the late '70's that that was the best approach for travelling east, and have been doing so ever since. Never sleep on the plane. Instead I work all night on my computer, usually with the window shade up so that I can also watch the stars and the Northern Lights, if present. Then, on arrival, stay awake all day. If tempted to lie down, I go for a long walk. Then go out with friends in the evening, and finally crash out about 10 pm. Then I would have a really good night's sleep in the new time zone... and zero jet lag. It's not ideal; missing out on a night's sleep is always tough. But fall asleep on the plane (or later), and it's jet lag for days, or even a week or two!

But I suppose we are all different, and that's what works for me.

I go between vancouver and sheffield on the regular as we have family over there.

The best way to beat it is to eat at usual times (you can start this the day before you travel, the wife does this, I dont), get up at usual times and go to bed at usual times, if you are awake in the night, get up in the dark, grab some water and go back to bed and stare at the ceiling, dont get on a phone/tablet pc. 

next time you're over there, buy some melatonin, its freely available, take it just before you go to sleep on the first, second and third night of your time change. its not essential but it helps

and for the love of god dont nap, my mother in law does this every afternoon about 2-3pm (6-7am canada time) when she comes to see us and then spends 2.5weeks trying to get over jet lag and is some how dumbfuddled about why her circadian rythm never seems to shift......

Really? I find it much easier going east, and so do most other people I know.

Pre pandemic I was a regular traveller and currently work night-shift. Best/worst way I find is to just stay awake until your regular sleep time at your destination. First few days I feel like crap, but I've not found an easier better way yet. I don't drink so can't comment on the hangover method. 

Hardest trips I've had, were for two days in Busan, South Korea. 22 hours travel time each way. Did this several times, eating, sleeping, working etc was completely messed up for a week at a time.

A colleague beat this by a mile though, Glasgow to Tokyo and back for a 6 hour visit . 

There was a theory that drinking your own urine was the way to treat jetlag... never tri3d it myself

I read somewhere that for every hour difference in time zone, it takes around a day to recover - so for a flight to Vancouver it will take you just over a week.

Of course once you are within one or two hours of your own timezone, you are much more functional, so in reality it doesn't take quite as long as that to feel back to normal.

For me (regular travel with work), three things help. Firstly, get some daylight. Secondly, get some exercise (usefully, this combines well with point 1). Thirdly, after some initial napping when I first get home, I try very hard to get into a regular bedtime routine quickly and to stick to it. That includes things like having a bedtime routine and staying off my phone once I'm in bed, even if I'm awake.

I found melatonin useful. Made the mistake though of taking some as I got on the plane in L.A. overwhelming urge to sleep but they're serving you food, making announcements etc. Horrendous. I tried booze once on a trip to South Africa. Spent a few hours bolt upright fighting the urge to throw up. Never again! I stopped the melatonin as I realised it was such a powerful drug. Better just to suffer a few days.

I'm not averse to getting up if I find I am awake at 4.00 on my return to the UK, do some light work or UKC noodling and then either go back to bed for an hour before proper get up time or just power through.  Makes for a long day but I quite like the serenity of a couple of hour8.s free time when no one else is up.

Worst I ever had was a trip to see family in Malaysia with two young kids, we got there in the morning and stayed up all day before crashing out about 8 pm.  Then by midnight the whole family were awake, all of us sleeping in a tiny room with a seriously noisy AC unit going.  Next day we flew to Langkawi and had what felt like the longest day ever, but at the end of it we were in a 5* resort and I could get up at 6.00 a.m. to go birdwatching before a Malaysian breakfast buffet and a day of pool hopping. 

Oh Roti Chanai, how do I love thee?  Let me count the ways?

I suppose it depends if you are a morning person or a night person.  Going west makes me a morning person for a few days, and I quite like it!

It is said that hardly anyone has a body clock set up for exactly 24 hours.  I reckon mine is about 25.  Morning people it is probably about 23.  So to go west it's a case of a VERY long day then a series of blissful "lie ins" to correct.

My uncle ( bless is soul, great guy who is now in his mid-eighties) had a very highpowered career with British Airways in various roles. At one stage he would fly very Monday on Concorde, spend 3-4 hours at NY and then fly back same day on Concorde.So he knew a bit about coping with jet lag. Told me he had never found a perfect or ideal way and just went with what his body told him to do.Mind you it was a 24/7 job so he would just work when awake and I am not sure most of us would put up with that type of role.

I was similar (always worse going east...stayed awake for most of the journey  and crashed out around 10.00pm ) but unlike some on this thread never found a couple of hours sleep or wine with the meal, or a coffee on the arrival meal, any real issue. I felt tired mid afternoon for the next couple of days but just worked through it.

When you get on the plane, set your watch to the time at your destination.  So far as is possible on the flight, follow the routines you would at your destination.  In this case, once I'd got home, I'd keep busy in the day doing stuff, usually laundry and shopping, then stay awake till my usual bedtime and go to bed having had some wine or whisky.  

The adjustment always seems more difficult heading eastwards but that routine usually works for me.

T.

I also find it easier going west, but it may be that I'm a nightowl so the time difference just makes me want to go to bed at normal person time, rather than even later. I imagine it depends on which way you're wired.

Yes, going west is just an elongated day - never caused me any great problems. The key both ways is getting a good nights sleep in the new time zone, even if it means a very long day or a sleepness night in between. (I found mountain bivouacking in my youth excellent training for getting used to sleep deprivation!) The body wants to keep in the old time zone: that's what has to be resisted.

Do you want to know the secret to surviving air travel? When you get to where you're going take off your shoes and socks and walk around on the rug barefoot and make fists with your toes. I know it sounds crazy but trust me, I've been doing it for nine years. Yes sir, better than a shower and a hot cup of coffee!! 

(Full marks if you get the reference!)