Fly Like A [Health] Pro

May 18, 2013 // Nutrition, Wellness

We underestimate good travel. A good travel experience can change the dynamics of a trip. Flying plays an important role on sleep, hunger, hydration, and overall health. Traveling across different time zones affects our circadian clock, and a health pro knows how to manipulate the variables of travel to nearly eliminate any jet-lag symptoms.  Let’s outline what you can do to better your travel experiences and maximize your next trip.

Learn From The Pro’s

Imagine having to fly for business each week. Most of your time is spent in the air and across different timezones. If you were always tired from re-adjusting each trip, you’d be an ineffective worker.  Those who travel often cannot afford to constantly combat jet-lag. Professional athletes, business travelers, and travel experts are all educated on the secrets to reducing/eliminating jet-lag. 

So what exactly is Jet-Lag?

Jet-lag (desynchronosis) is a combination of unpleasant physical symptoms that can linger for days upon arrival to a new destination.  Jet-lag is caused by the inability to match your circadian clock with the your new timezone. This is largely due to the mis-match of sleep and food intake. Until now, most people never considered how their food intake played a role on their grogginess.

We follow patterns of sleep and food intake. When we force ourselves to stay awake or if we don’t sleep in a natural cycle, our need for food increases. When we eat food at different times compared to our normal eating patterns, our circadian clock is thrown off. Then, when we arrive at our new destination, we go right into being active and doing things. Top that off with natural dehydration from air travel and you have your recipe for premium jet-lag.

Learning how to adjust these patterns can make for a smooth transition into a new timezone.

Here’s how:

Sleep The Flight Away

Since there is really not much to do on an aircraft, don’t try to occupy yourself with technology to pass the time. It will go by very slow and you will begin to stress yourself out with boredom. Instead, look at this as an opportunity to get some shut-eye. Think of the flight as a forced sleep experience. Sleep as much as you can and rejuvenate your body with rest. If falling asleep is an issue, there are plenty of natural remedies that can assist, such as:

• Have a protein-dense meal and drink  warm tea before the flight

• Sit in an exit row and stretch out

• Turn the air on COLD and use a blanket

• Sit against the window and lean your head against the inner wall

• Take your shoes off

• If you’re light sensitive, use an eye- mask

• If you’re a light sleeper, use noise-canceling headphones

• If you can’t sleep, read a book

• As always, drink a lot of water to stay hydrated

Match Your Meals To The New Timezone

If you’re traveling from NYC to Paris, you have to account for a six (6) hour time difference. Travel time from NYC to Paris is just shy of eight (8) hours. So, if you take a flight out of NYC at 8pm and travel for eight (8) hours, you would arrive at 10am in Paris. However, to your body, it’s 4am. Uh-oh.

The trick is matching your meals to the new timezone. So in this case, you would want to match your normal breakfast time with the breakfast hours of Paris. However, eating at 4am may not be your normal breakfast time, so what you would do is before you fly, stop eating. Yes, just stop. Trick your body to think it’s time for sleep and “wake” your body up with breakfast in the local timezone.

1. Eat last meal at 7pm

2. Fly out at 8pm

3. Sleep duration of the flight (8 hours)

4. Eat as soon as you land (10am local time)

5. Follow normal eating patterns matched with local time

Avoid Temptations

Some people will pay the premium rate for first class and are often pampered with indulgences. Think of an upgraded flight experience as a hotel room in the air rather than an a reason to splurge on all the amenities. As mentioned, the goal of a professional traveler is to easily adjust to new timezones without jet-lag symptoms. You too can skip the next-day grogginess when you avoid these temptations:

• Alcohol

• In-flight meals

• Watching TV and movies

• Computer usage 

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The Fly-Away [Take-Away]

• Eat a nutritious meal before your flight

• Sleep as much as possible

• Drink water often

• Eat your next meal soon after landing to match the local timezone

The ideas presented are set to help you maximize your next trip with a super easy flight experience. You may find that unwinding over a cocktail or catching up with computer work is necessary and that’s completely fine. Now you’ll at least understand how to manipulate your sleep and food to increase your post-flight energy and decrease your grogginess.

Either way, enjoy your next trip!

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