Jet Lag, an ExPat Bane
I have been pondering an article by Michael Martinez distributed by Knight Ridder Newspapers on January 1, 2006. The article described strategies for dealing with jet lag. My first thought upon reading it was the memory of standing on a balcony in Abu Dhabi at 3 a.m., with my entire family, wide awake and wondering how I’d stay up at work the next day. I was new to the game then. Now I’m a veteran with advice of my own.
Several tips in the article were things that frequent flyers had found effective. Attention was given to medicinal sleep aids. I have avoided those, while colleagues swear by them. The more scientific end of the article was contributed by Dr. Clete Kushida (what an interesting international name!) of the Stanford University Center for Human Sleep Research. That’s my favorite part. If you have trouble sleeping on planes, change your thinking to at least get some rest, or alter your flight times (where possible) to travel during the day. Or get your employer/workplace to grant a rest day at the far end.
In summary, you shouldn’t mess with Mother Nature. I had to battle sleep deprivation while working late shifts for a few years, and using daylight and natural sleep patterns helped. Sleep at night and stay awake in the day, no matter where you are. Get out into the sun. There are things going on inside your head that you don’t realize, and like a migrating bird, you adapt to the local conditions of the day by an unconscious assessment of the sun, its angle, the duration of the day, etc.