Lessons from a Road Warrior: My Routine for Surviving Jet Lag

For those who know me, they know that I'm pretty much on the road all the time. I do international travel at least 50% of the year which is a big decrease from the 80%+ when I was at Yahoo!. I get asked all the time: how do you get over jet lag? 

Doing this intense international travel for over 20 years now you have to develop a process and routine, especially as you get older when you don’t have as much gumption and energy as you used to. I clearly love the adventure of travel and international business. It’s energizing. But the jet lag especially when you cross so many time zones coming from California to Asia or to Europe and the MENA region is brutal. 

So here is what I do. As always, trying to get a good night's rest prior to flight is important. I almost always fast on the airplane, the food on the airplane tends to be super salty and not so good for you anyways. Fasting has been shown to help with time zone adjustments too. 

I also make sure I am hydrated and try to have a full water bottle (Yeti of course) of water mixed with trace minerals and LMNT which is a powdered mineral & salt mix that tastes pretty good. It’s easy to get dehydrated on the flight so drinking lots of this water is helpful.

When I board the plane, I set my time to the time zone of the destination and force myself to adjust on the plane. If it’s night time there, I sleep. If it’s daytime over there during the flight, I force myself to stay awake during the entire flight. This is how I get so much reading done. 

When I land, if it’s sunny outside, you have to get as much sunlight as possible. And it’s why I try to get there one day early so I can walk around. And have lots of water with trade minerals and LMNT. You will feel much better. 

I also try to do some weight exercise or lots of walking. I try to go easy on cardio on the first day or two. Weights are more important here. 

No naps at all as much as you feel tired. I usually try to take a very hot shower or even better, take a nice hot bath or sauna which helps your body’s circulation after a flight. You have to force yourself to stay up all day till 10 or 11 pm. Melatonin is key to helping you sleep through the night. 

And in the morning, take a cold hard shower which wakes you up and gives you a lot of mental clarity. 

That’s my travel routine, a process I’ve tried and tested over the last 2 decades of intense work travel. I hope you find this as helpful as it’s been for me.