Cure for Jet Lag?
 

A Weekend Journal article in todays WSJ had a panel of "experts" & physicians examine & evaluate various popular treatments for jet lag. Interesting reading! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Best- Light Box - used approx 30 mins after landing

-Perscription Sleeping Pills-Ambian
-Sonata

Cant beat a good "nights" sleep!!! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Worst- Jet Lag Eliminator - this plastic wheel tells pax where to rub themselves inflight to REset your body clock. Sample target: BIG TOE!!! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Conde Nast Traveler says Meletonin can help. But they say rest as much as you can before and durring travel. Don't be too active the 1st day or so. Relax if you can.

I forgot to report my experience in Feb. with the "No Jet Lag" candy mints that I purchased from a Sky Mall magazine. I am sad to report that on my trip to Manila I followed the directions to the letter by taking one mint every 2 hours and they did work, but for the worse! My jet lag lasted about 4 days and I was worse off than if I had not used anything. I stayed off the booze like I normally do for this trip, so it had to be the product causing the problem. Use of this product is not recommended.

I find the best way to deal with this is:
AM arrivals: Sleep as much as you can in flight and no meals or caffine!!!
PM arrivals: Stay awake as much as you can.

Well, again, if you go to my website ( http://ihtm.11net.com and click on TravelWise), you can read my article on Jet Lag, including recommendations from the International Society of Travel Medicine concerning melatonin. As for the "No Jet Lag" pills, I do have a copy of the orgional research article published in the Aerospace professional journal, should anyone want a copy of it.

Brents website is great! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Note that the Manila Times is carrying some similar advice
http://www.manilatimes.net/2000/apr/...00406lif3.html

Here's a link to the article that includes a listing of several "remedies"!
http://travel.wsj.com/n/SB955117827270799708-main.html

And a few remarks from the earlier discussion of Melatonin, by Brent, author of the famed travel medicine website alluded to above! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum94/HTML/000061.html



[This message has been edited by doc (edited 04-13-2000).]

Minimalist remedy...DON'T GO!

Shadow, I think that's a case of the cure being worse than the disease.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Personally I like the yards of beer theory. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif And if that doesn't work stay up as long as possible on the first day ( 10 - 11 p.m ) and get up at 6a.m and have a good breakfast and hit the day running.

Cheers Scott

Re the homeopathic No Jet-Lag pills, this sounds like a combination of remedies. These combinations are not considered classical homeopathy and frequently do not work. Some reasons include too low potency and the various component remedies may antidote each other. In any case, in my opinion, the dosage instructions of taking the pills every two hours is absurd and could very well account for Paul's 4 day jet lag. This is called proving a remedy - if one overdoses, i.e., takes a remedy more often than needed, it can cause the very symptoms you are trying to alleviate.

Here is a single remedy often given for jet lag - Arnica Montana - common name is leopard's bane, family name is Compositae. Take one pillule only when you begin to feel jet lagged. Ignore the packaged instructions to take 3-5 up to 3 times a day. Ignore the "use for" condition listed on the bottle - this is a federal reg. for any meds sold over the counter. Each and every homeopathic remedy has myriad applications. Arnica is a very common remedy having many uses and as such should be readily available at any health food store which sells homeopathic remedies.

For jet lag I suggest you purchase it in a 30C potency. The cost per vial is about $5.25. Arnica is also used to treat sprains, strains, soft tissue injuries, or discomfort or bleeding after dental work, to name just a few.

If used properly, Arnica can work wonders. Here's an example: My husband had a molar tooth extracted. He refused the dentist's Rx for pain medication and for antibiotics. Instead he took one Arnica 30C as soon as he got back home from the procedure. He experienced no pain, no bleeding and by the next day the socket was completely healed over and he was eating peanuts!

If you do choose to try homeopathy just bear in mind that, unlike allopathic medicine, in homeopathy less is more. Stop the remedy as soon as improvement is noticed. If no improvement is noted after three 30C doses, discontinue as it is the wrong remedy for your situation.

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Forget the pills. I've always used copious quantities of water, exercise, and whatever sleep I can get on the plane, and usually have no problems. Avoiding caffeine helps as well, as does avoiding alcohol at least on westbound day flights (eastbound overnights seems not to make a difference at least for me). Resetting my watch as soon as I'm belted in for takeoff helps on the psychological side.

The research team at the University of Bristol found that temporal lobe regions of the brain critical to memory became smaller after five years of regular jet lag exposure.

...The findings were said to have broad implications not just for airline staff, but also for shift workers and parents of young children whose body clocks are disturbed during the night.

It was not known how long the brain changes persisted, or whether they were reversible.

Evidence of impaired thinking ability in cabin crews subjected to repeated jet lag had already emerged in a previous study by the same research team from the University of Bristol.
http://news.airwise.com/stories/2001/05/990437565.html

Jet Lag Can Be More Than An Annoyance
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2001May29.html