Airline passenger news and views

I am just no good without sleep and having already discussed the difficulties in getting a good sleep on an aircraft in my article, And so to Sleep…it started me thinking about sleep and jetlag.

The last time I did ‘long haul’ earlier this year I suffered so much on my return to the UK from the lack of sleep and my body clock being totally messed up.

I have done a bit of research into not repeating this awful experience that took me a good four days to get over. My findings do make interesting reading.

One of the main causes can be dehydration, you should always seek to drink plenty of water before your flight, during your flight and when you reach your destination, you should avoid alcohol or overindulging.

Another good tip was to set your watch to local time of your destination as you board and sleep according to that. When you do arrive at your destination do not sleep during the day no matter how tired you are and go outside into the sunshine as this helps your body clock and will get you back to normal a lot quicker. Obviously, this does not generally include the UK when it is pouring with rain, but you know what I mean!

This was probably my biggest downfall last time as I tried and tried to stay awake, keeping myself busy unpacking, and generally trying to get back to normality, I then made the fatal mistake of sitting down and then ‘dropped off’ on the sofa at around 3pm in the afternoon, I slept that first night but the next three I was wide awake like a nocturnal animal and very frustrated!

Apparently, if you really cannot keep yourself awake you should have a hot bath and then set your alarm for four hours time and sleep for that time only.

I really do not know what the answer is, and I am sure lots of you do have your own tips for avoiding jet lag and I would like to hear them. It really can have a detrimental effect on your holiday. After all, you hope to come back relaxed, and not end up with sleep deprivation and a stress disorder.