The best advice I can give you is NOT to go full sleep mode - take a nap or two, but keep busy with IFE, reading book or Kindle or iPad, etc. etc. The flight will pass, eat lightly in the last hours (not full meal) and you will arrive sleepy; stay up until 9 or 10 PM, THEN go into full sleep mode. I do this and awake the next day in the morning ready to go - some protein for breakfast and coffee, and make a FULL day of it, no full sleep (I may permit myself a 15 minute power nap) until bed time and I am adapted to the new zone.
The return, normally a redeye, I stay up, enjoy IFE and a meal (but not everything there is to eat!) and then try to sleep a full night for the return, making it easier to adapt to the new eastern time zone. Try to adapt to the destination time zone as soon as possible - even before boarding, if you can begin changing sleep and activity patterns.
I have to say, I have been using this method for decades and it has always worked for me; the only times I have troubles is when I fly such oddities as ORD-DEL (Lv ORD 7:35p Ar DEL 9:45p+1 after 14:40 flight) on American, which is a real clock stopper.
Nonetheless, I attempt using as much natural forces as possible - I do not use alcohol and medications to try to induce sleep. (Those who have experienced anterograde amnesia when taking Halcyon or Zolpidem if the aircraft must land early for mechanical or refueling problems can well attest to exactly why they may not try medication-induced sleep again).
Last edited by JDiver; Oct 15, 2010 at 4:58 pm
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