Beat jet lag

I am fortunate to travel quite often. As fabulous as it is it can be very tiring, especially travelling across timezones with two small children in tow. I LOVE my sleep so depriving me of this necessity can lead to temporary insanity, moodiness and general unhappiness.

The key to recovering from jet lag or not suffering from it is to get into your new timezone as soon as possible.

So this is what I do during the flight:

Our recent flight to Palm Beach was 36 hours in total (this is counting stop overs).

• I try and sleep as much as possible on the flight. This is most definitely a tough one.
• I won’t take sleeping pills so have to rely on Chamomile tea, a sleep mask, guided meditation through headphones and a puffy jacket as I always freeze on airplanes.
• I also try eat a substantial meal beforehand so I don’t have to attempt airline food. If I am stuck I stick to the protein and veg.

Once I arrive at destination:

• Set my watch to local time immediately and get into that routine.
• On this journey we arrived in Palm Beach at 1 pm which meant it was 7 pm in Cape Town. We went for a bike ride to the beach and a swim. I really didn’t feel like it but had to keep busy so as not to fall asleep. We went grocery shopping and went to bed at 8pm.
• No jet lag on that trip.

Coming back to Cape Town:

• This trip is always a bit harder as we are travelling ‘back in time’. We arrived home at 10 pm which meant it was midday in Palm Beach, the driver had forgotten to fetch us and the kids were beyond miserable. We finally got home and fell into bed. I set my alarm for 9am but woke at 7:30am and managed the day without too much effort but felt a bit spacey.
• Living a sugar free lifestyle definitely helps as I am not overloading my system with junk, refined and processed foods.
• I was excited to get back to my own kitchen and made some of my favourite recipes which can be found here.

Let me know if you have any tips or tricks to add.

xxx Karen