Jet lag, the simple version

Jet lag is not tiredness. It is your body clock running on the wrong city, and it resets by about an hour a day on its own. You can speed that up without pills.

Start on the plane

Set your watch to the destination the moment you sit down, and act on that time. If it is night there, pull the shade, skip the film and the second glass of wine, and sleep even badly. If it is day there, stay awake, drink water, walk the aisle once an hour.

Daylight is the lever

Light is the strongest signal your clock gets. Flying east, get outside in the morning and avoid bright light in the late evening. Flying west, do the opposite: afternoon and evening light helps you stay up to local bedtime. A walk through the city on the first afternoon does more than a nap in the hotel.

Eat at local meal times

Your gut keeps its own clock and eats its way onto the new one. Have breakfast when the city has breakfast, even if it is a croissant at what feels like 2 am. Keep dinner early and light on the first night.

The first night rule

Stay awake until at least 9 pm local time, whatever it costs. A twenty-minute nap before 3 pm is allowed; a two-hour one at 6 pm is not, because you will be wide awake at 1 am and the whole next day slides. If you do wake in the night, read in dim light and do not look at the clock.

How many days

A rough guide: half a day per time zone flying east, a third of a day flying west. Five hours east means two slightly foggy days. Plan the first day as a walk and a view, not the museum you flew in for.

How Travlyo does it

A saved flight shapes the first and last day: nothing before you land plus ninety minutes, and a light last morning before a long flight home. Keeping the first day gentle is the one thing you do yourself.