4 Tricks to Beat Jet Lag

Dress: Zara; Bag: Cult Gaia; Boots: Alexander Wang

Jetlag can be a serious buzzkill. Pretty sure we’ve all experienced waking up at 3am with all the energy in the world, and feeling drunk with exhaustion at 7pm. With the frequent traveling I do, I have a few tricks up my sleeve to beat the sneaky fucker known as jet lag, which I thought I’d share with you today:

1. Pop a melatonin
Melatonin is the hormone that controls your sleep cycle. Your body releases it at night, when it’s dark out. By supplementing with melatonin, you’re basically tricking your body into functioning in the time-zone you’re in. It basically helps you reset your biological clock.

2. Don’t nap after a redeye
Redeye flights are no fun, but the worst thing you can do is go to bed immediately after landing. Instead, distract yourself with a good breakfast, and walk around the city. In the afternoon, nap for no more than 30 minutes, and then force yourself to go about your day like a local. This makes your body adjust to the time-zone you’re in, instead of signalling to it that it’s okay to fall asleep in the middle of the day.

3. Hydrate
Dehydration is a common physical symptom of jet lag. It can make you feel fatigued, irritated, not to mention, it most definitely makes your skin look dry. Make sure you drink plenty of water before, during, and after your flight. The general rule of thumb is to consume 6-8 ounces of water for every hour in the air.

Pro tip: take your own water bottle. This way, you’re not constantly asking for refills on those tiny little cups and/or getting too lazy to ask for refills altogether, therefore contributing to dehydration. And for god’s sake, don’t consume coffee or alcohol while flying. It dehydrates you like a prune.

4. Take it easy
Look, no matter how much we may want to be on our A Game immediately upon landing at our destination, we have to come to grips with reality: your body is not going to function the way it normally does after a flight. Be gentle to your body the day you arrive at your destination, otherwise you risk getting sick from fatigue (been there).