Jetlag Advice Needed
 

I would like some advice if you could help me with regards to jet lag from California to Thailand and back.

The plan is as follows leave home a week from this Wednesday with a 8:05 AM Flight to LAX and we will be at the airport at 6 :00 AM. then connect to the 2:20 PM Air China Flight that arrives Beijing at 6:30 PM. Connecting flight to BKK leaves at 7:45 PM arriving at 11:45 PM

So on the outbound westbound its best to stay awake as much as possible and treat it like a Paris-San Francisco Flight and take a nap. Have some Espresso or coffee to help rewind the body clock. Then stay up to BKK getting to bed around 1:00 AM and sleep until our Tour Orientation Breakfast.

On the return I believe we depart BKK around 3:00 PM and we connect in BKK for a 1:05 AM Flight that arrives Beijing at 6:30 AM we then connect to a 3:00 PM Flight arriving LAX at 11:00 AM and connecting to a 4:15 PM flight arriving home at 5:30 PM.

On the Eastbound is it best to sleep on the BKK-PEK flight or stay awake and then sleep from PEK-LAX and stay awake all day at PEK with a short 45 minute nap in the lounge and a shower? Then stay up until 11:00 PM or Midnight local time?

My theory is to treat the eastbound flight like a SFO-Paris flight and sleep some.

Thanks for your advice and other tips.

I have melatonin so its best to take it 2 hours before going to sleep on the plane and on the first night at each destination 2 hours before going to sleep?

My usual strategy for late night arrivals to the west coast of USA is to try to awake at least 8hrs before arrival and then try to get to bed by latest 2am west coast time. Good luck!

edit: ooops, got that backwards. Sorry.

I never worry much on the westbound trans-pacific. Not nearly as hard as the eastbound.

It all depends on how you personally are affected. Sleep when you're tired and eat when you're hungry suits me, but others describe being like zombies for days.

Your outbound plan seem sensible with regards to getting on your destination's time, but not sure about your return as if you sleep on the flight to LAX you may not want to sleep again a few hours after getting home.

Your outbound sounds solid. Though from my experience, it doesn't matter too much when you sleep on LAX - PEK as you'll be exhausted from all the travel when you get off in BKK (PEK - BKK is only 200nm shorter than as IAD - LAX for comparison sake). Just don't sleep on the BKK flight.

Eastbound I would aim to eat the lunch / dinner meal on PEK - LAX and then try your best to sleep for as long as possible and then eat the breakfast before landing. That way the 11am arrival into LAX will seem accurate to your body. After that it's key you stay up and try and go to bed at a normal hour that night.

The main rule of avoiding jetlag - stay awake until bedtime in the local time zone. Work backwards and figure out what that will take, based on flight timings and when you're likely to fall asleep.

I do SFO/BKK several times a year. I sleep on the TPAC flight and then try to stay awake on the shorter NRT/BKK intra-Asia flight. That way when I get to the hotel at near midnight I can sleep again. If I am going for work I always go a couple of days early so I can acclimate to the time change.

I do the same on the return but my schedule is better as I usually arrive at SFO in the morning and I'm home before noon. Works OK after sleeping most of the TPAC flight.

Thank you all for your tips. MOD I am sorry for starting a new thread but I thought after a couple of years it just goes to the end of the thread.

It should be a nice trip!!!!!!!!

Friends of mine swear by the method of changing your eating schedule to your destination's time zone the day before you fly.

I think you mean the destination time zone?

Hmm I don't change the day before but I do change as soon as I get on the plane. Sometimes it results in an extra meal and sometimes it results in one less meal but for me personally, eating to the destination time zone goes a long way towards preventing jetlag, especially on TCONs (which I'm on fairly often). It's important on TATL too but less so on TPAC where the change in time zone is more dramatic and shifting eating times alone isn't enough to quickly adjust.

Local time zone of the destination, yes.

This, I always try to keep awake and sleep at 9.00pm to avoid jet lag

Sleeping on the plane if at all possible is the best solution. Sleeping pills or alcohol are you friend.

Personally, without overthinking it, I would sleep only enough to safely get myself home. For me that means trying to stay awake for the full 24 hour period prior to walking in my front door. It forces my body and mind to have no choice but be ready for bed in that time zone.