ajg1002

Looking for some guidance on how to approach minimizing jet-lag and optimizing sleep to help make our first day in Tokyo as efficient as possible. Wife and I are flying on JL 3 in business which takes off at 12:30AM from JFK and lands at HND at 4:45AM. Original thought is to sleep for an hour or two, eat and then try to sleep for the rest of the flight but honestly have no idea how to best schedule. We are only going to be in Japan for a handful of days before continuing on so dont have the luxury to take a few days to adapt.

Any thoughts from those who have taken the midnight flight??

Daytona

Everyone handles jet lag differently and I haven't flown from JFK, but I have flown red-eyes on ANA from LAX.

I will just head straight to sleep right after take off and sleep in for as long as you can.

MattEvan

JL3 is pretty brutal no matter what you do. But I would suggest trying to stay awake the first half and then sleeping for as much of the remaining flight as possible. You'll just need to power through your day and not give in to your exhaustion.

jib71

The Jason Bourne approach:
https://www.fodors.com/news/travel-t...ke-a-cia-agent

If that seems like too much effort, I recommend that you:
1) Do your best to be well rested and well hydrated before your trip
2) On the flight, sleep as much as possible, eat as little as possible, drink lots of water, and avoid alcohol and caffeine
3) Spend as much time as possible outdoors on your first day in Tokyo
4) Stay well hydrated, eat protein-rich foods and avoid carbs at breakfast and lunch
5) Go for carbs at dinner (e.g. finish with a bowl of rice or noodles)

Topcare

Yah. I'm going on vacation not to wax kim jun in. Not try to see every gosh darn thing when I'm there either. But hey. More champagne for me.

LapLap

Most of the Long haul flights I’ve taken in that same direction departed early but I took JL41 in September which left Haneda at 12:40am and arrived in London just after 6am which is a comparative flight. This was in a sold out Economy cabin with half of a zonked out thirteen year old on my lap.

From my perspective, particularly if I’d had my own bed to lie in, this is close to being a best case scenario for crossing time lines. @jib71’s advice has covered the fundamentals, the real decision is how much of the flight’s service offerings you’d be willing to forego - assuming you’d be able to get some sleep.

JAL’s own advice (the philosophy for JL41 https://www.jal.co.jp/jp/en/inter/route/hndlhr/ which seems to be the only comparable flight to JL3 that departs from their HND hub) is to get all your eating and drinking done in the lounge before you depart, get to sleep as quickly and as long as you can and have a meal before landing.

I’d also recommend that you run with the probability of waking up at 5 or 6 in the mornings during the short time you are in Japan and tailor your plans to make the most of the opportunities rather than fight it.

Visconti

Here's what's always worked for me.

If diminishing the jet lag effect is important (it isn't always, at least not for me), I'll fast 8 hours before the flight, during, and then eat a huge breakfast with lots of protein upon landing. Then, spend the entire day out in the Sun, have dinner at around 7 pm, and hopefully doze off by midnight. Then next day, at least for me, I'm fully adjusted.

brenc3

This is a big reason I'm not a fan of the overnight flights US-Japan. They leave so late that by the time you eat the first meal it's 3-4am (ET), later than I normally go to bed, at which point I struggle to get to sleep. Then you land 5am JST (often much earlier) and if you didn't sleep right on the plane, it's a very long time until you can sleep again (overnight in Japan).

For me, I would get to sleep as soon as possible, because I get sick and headaches when I don't sleep. You're in J, so you can dine whenever. Wake up, eat, read, or watch some movies, but then try to get a bit more sleep (but also eat) before landing. Then eat again after landing, and get on with the day. Then just push yourself, to the extent possible, to stay up all day and don't go to bed before 9pm.

joejones

I think the most important point in these responses is that you don't want to sleep on your first day in Japan until it's actually nighttime. *Maybe* a 30-minute catnap but that's it. Much better to give yourself a busy first day with lots of outdoor time to help reset your system. If you wake up at 5 am the next morning, it's a good time to get sushi.

ajg1002

Thanks all - what I am leaning towards is trying to figure out how to best sleep the last 6-8 hours to have some rest as we hit tokyo but will be tough taking off at midnight local time. Our plan is to be outside the entire day and away from our hotel to resist the temptation to go back to sleep.

SuperEWR

Haven't done this flight from JFK but have done it from SFO, if you can stay up by watching a movie or doing some work for a couple hours, then you'll be quite tired and fall right asleep and wake up maybe 1-2 hours before landing. To get yourself to sleep at a normal time in Tokyo that night, I'd recommend some coffee plus at most a quick nap in a taxi (which should recharge you a bit but not be deep enough sleep or long enough to keep you from adjusting to Tokyo time)

kodalip

Just wanted to follow up and see what worked for you. Taking JL 3 in a few days. Also curious about the timing of service on the flight

chokeman

I can highly recommend the timeshifter app. I used it for the first time last November when flying gig-jfk-hnd and it definitely minimized the effects of 12h jetlag for me.

So much so that my wife and son will also be using the app guidance on our upcoming trip to Japan.

5khours

I have flown well over 1000 TPAC's. After much experimentation with diet, drugs, sleep patterns, caffeine, apps, UV exposure, supplements, etc., I have finally come up with a 100% effective method for handling jet lag......

After arriving, take a 2 hour nap every afternoon, and in 8 to 10 days your jet lag will be gone.

ttuna3

Not quite up to 5khours, only around 75ish TPACs.

I usually try to take the late morning (1000-1300ish) West Coast time to get to Japan around 1400 or so. I usually eat the first meal, watch a movie and then crash until the pre-landing meal. My body clock is usually pretty close to Japan time if I stay up until normal bedtime (22-2300+for me) and get up at my normal 0730 the next morning. Similar experiences (adjust arrival times appropriately) heading to ICN and SIN on the TPAC legs.

Given my job, I'm used to all sorts of weird sleep/rest hours so I've gotten to be able to adapt much quicker than a lot of friends and family.