Jet lag

I decided to do this post on jet lag, as I am now suffering from my worst case of it. During all my travels, whether to Paris, Scotland, Germany, or Thailand, I have always had a little bit of jet lag. When crossing time zones, it is inevitable. However, there are a few trends I have noticed.

First, the definition. According to wikipedia, "When traveling across a number of time zones, the body clock will be out of synchronization with the destination time, as it experiences daylight and darkness contrary to the rhythms to which it has grown accustomed: the body's natural pattern is upset, as the rhythms that dictate times for eating, sleeping, hormone regulation and body temperature variations no longer correspond to the environment nor to each other in some cases. To the degree that the body cannot immediately realign these rhythms, it is jet lagged."

The most common symptoms, from the same source, are as follows:
Headaches
Fatigue, irregular sleep patterns, insomnia
Disorientation, grogginess, irritability
Mild depression
Constipation or diarrhea

I would add to this list a feeling of coming apart. Yesterday I arrived in Khon Kaen at 7:15am after traveling for almost 48 hrs. By the afternoon, I actually felt like I was going to fall apart--physically. My body was like an entity out of my control. I took a brief nap and woke up with a case of pretty intense anxiety and exhaustion. Never before in my life have I wanted to sleep so badly. However, I fought it and went to the movie. During the movie, the only thought that kept cycling through my head was "People die when they don't sleep. I totally get that now."

One of my coworkers took me home on the motorsai and I felt like I was losing grip on my molecules. It's hard to describe, but it was a desperate feeling. Like if I didn't go to sleep my body was going to float away from itself. Once in bed, I almost couldn't sleep because I felt so anxious for no reason. It was pretty awful.

When I did sleep, it was deep for about 6 hrs. Then I woke up for a bit before falling asleep until 7:00am. Once up then, I decided to stay awake. Luckily Allison rolled in at that time, and we talked and caught up.

Now, at about 4:30pm, I feel totally exhausted once again. My eyes are itchy with sleep, my head hurts, and I can't seem to drink enough water. My conclusion for this entry-- jet lag is a terrible beast that makes me an anxious, groggy, and unhappy person.

BUT, onto remedies. While there is no actual way to avoid it, here are some tips I have heard/learned over my travels.
1. Drink lots of water while traveling. Hydration is key.
2. As soon as you start traveling, put yourself on the timezone of your destination. Eat and sleep on this schedule.
3. Fly into your destination at night. This means you can go right to bed after a presumably tiring experience. (This was the biggest difference for me this time around-- I got to Bangkok at midnight but couldn't sleep because I was in the airport. Then I flew into KK in the morning and had to stay awake the whole day, making it 3-4 days without any sleep.)
4. Power through! Keep moving and find something to do. Once you sit down... you're done.

And, according to Wikipedia, this is another option: "A recent study in hamsters showed that sildenafil citrate (known commercially as Viagra) aided in a 50% faster recovery from shifts comparable to eastward travel experienced by humans and was effective starting at low doses.[9] However, this use has not been tested in humans and is considered an off-label use by the drug's manufacturers."

I'm curious about other people's experiences. Any tips from well-seasoned travelers? Or horror stories?

Now I must go into another meeting.

Jet lag=pain, yo.