How to avoid jet lag on your return home from long-haul travel

Returning home after a long-haul holiday is bad enough, but sleepless nights due to jetlag make the back-to-reality-blues even worse. Photo / Getty Images

It’s that time of year when we look back and reminisce about our top travel experiences in 2023: the highlights and special moments that just might inspire your next adventure in 2024. This article was one of the stories that our readers enjoyed the most in 2023.

Dear long-haul traveller: Here’s a hard-earned tip that can make your trip more successful. Focus as much on your return to New Zealand as you probably will on your departure and offshore itinerary.

Although experienced trippers, last year we relearned the hard way when returning from what had been a highly enjoyable and incident-free jaunt around parts of Europe.

Maybe it was lack of travel practice brought about by the swingeing restrictions that came with the coronavirus but whatever it was, we didn’t pay enough attention to our return and the old bogey – jet lag. Travelling west to east on the way home didn’t help. Yes, the science is settled, as they say, you are highly likely to have the jet lag effects lasting longer if that is the direction of your long-haul travel.

Although we went to the northern hemisphere at a gentler pace, including a 24-hour stopover in Dubai, we decided to do the southbound return trip in one hit – a late-night departure with Emirates from Athens to Dubai, then a four-hour transit with change of plane; on to Kuala Lumpur and a 90-minute transit; and then off on a final 10 hours-plus leg to Auckland.

Reacting to the resultant tiredness and jet lag certainly took some lustre off what had been a magical return to Europe.

The appellation jet lag is apt as the effects occur when you travel quickly across time zones. That rush through time zones puts your natural circadian rhythm - the internal clock that your body uses to manage sleep and wake times – out of sync.

Because the travel is slower and covers a shorter distance, there is much less effect from going through several time zones if you are going by ship, train or even propeller-driven aircraft.

And going faster than your average jet through time zones may not lessen jet lag either. I had the good fortune back in December 1977 to travel on Concorde at twice the speed of sound on two 3½ hour legs – from Singapore to Bahrain and Bahrain to London. At that time, British Airways was promoting its supersonic service with the advertising slogan “Beats jet lag”. Personally, it seemed true, though admittedly this wasn’t west-to-east travel. But the advertising standards body told BA to cease and desist as its claim couldn’t be proven.

Regardless, jet lag on today’s commercial long-haul flights remains real, with probably the most common effects being simply fatigue, insomnia and difficulty concentrating – a former colleague used to talk of hitting “soggy patches” when he returned to the office from a long trip. Other symptoms may include headaches, mood swings, lack of appetite and constipation or diarrhoea.

Generally jet lag will not be a problem if you are travelling through just two or three time zones, although you may still feel some tiredness. This could be because the cabin pressure is not down at sea level as the aircraft gains altitude. Typically it will be around 7000ft, although on the Boeing 787 may be as low as 6000ft - around the altitude of Johannesburg - due to its strong carbon-fibre airframe allowing a bigger pressure differential between outside and inside.

Do stopovers help? On a comfort basis, yes – a nice bed, cuisine of your choice and natural surroundings won’t go amiss, even for 24 hours. Better still, if you can make the stopover even longer and it becomes a proper destination in your itinerary, giving your body more chance to at least adapt to time zones crossed for that part of the return home.

Among the cons: adding time, and cost, to your journey. Then there is the chance of adding to the potential for delays and cancellations of flights and luggage delivery issues. And, heaven forbid, the chance of missing a flight if you sleep in on your stopover.

So whether the trip home has been punctuated with a stopover or not, what is the trick to dealing with jet lag? There is plenty of advice today on the internet, but as always, be careful what you follow.

Regardless of theories, quick fixes and medical supplements, the simple one is to hang tough and get as quickly as possible on to the new time zone. Eat meals and go to bed in line with the time at the destination. Prior to this, try to get some sleep on the aircraft within the destination’s night-time. You will almost certainly get this chance on a long-haul flight.

Don’t forget to keep hydrated both in flight and upon arrival. Particularly after travelling west to east, let in morning light to wake up in sync with the destination time, reducing the release of the melatonin hormones that make you sleepy. If it is sleep you need so as to be in line with your destination, you may want to consider a supplement such as melatonin – however, whatever you consider in the way of medications, do have a discussion first with a qualified pharmacist or your regular travel doctor.

Lastly, the good news: The jet lag will go. The common rule of thumb is that the number of days it takes will equate to the number of time zones you have crossed (if they haven’t gone by then you would be wise to talk to a doctor, just in case).

Don’t forget to take as much care in your trip planning in getting home as getting away.

This story was originally published on April 26, 2023