Learn about jet lag
Everything we know about landing ready, in plain English. Start with the two big ones, then dig into whatever your trip needs.
How to Beat Jet Lag: What Actually Works, and What's a Waste of Time
How to beat jet lag: get the direction right, time your daylight and coffee, protect your sleep, and switch to local time the moment you land.
Read the guide Start hereWhat Is Jet Lag? Why It Knocks You Flat, and How to Beat It
What is jet lag? It's your body clock stuck on home time after you cross zones fast. Causes, symptoms, and how long it lasts, roughly a day per zone.
Read the guideLight, your strongest lever
How to Get Daylight When It's Cloudy or Dark: Weather's No Excuse
A cloudy day still gives your eyes 1,000-25,000 lux, several times any office. How to get daylight when it's cloudy, dark, or deep winter.
Light and Jet Lag: Your Most Powerful Lever (and It's Free)
Light is your most powerful lever against jet lag, stronger than caffeine, meals, or any sleep aid. Why daylight resets your clock, and what to do first.
Morning Light or Evening Light: Which One Beats Your Jet Lag?
Morning light shifts your clock earlier, evening light pushes it later. Which you need depends on your direction, whether you're flying east or west.
Your body clock
Your Body Clock: The Circadian Rhythm That Runs Your Jet Lag
Your circadian rhythm is a body clock that runs slightly over 24 hours. Here's how it works, and why the timing of light is what resets it.
Flying East vs West: Why East Wrecks You and West Doesn't
Flying east is harder than flying west because your body clock likes to run late. Here's why east flattens you, and how to plan for each way.
Shifting the Long Way Round: Beat Big Eastward Jet Lag by Winding Your Clock Backwards
Shifting the long way round, letting your clock delay, is often the gentler route for big eastward trips of eight time zones and up.
Food, drink and caffeine
Alcohol and Flying: Why That Free Wine Turns On You
Alcohol feels like a sleep aid on a long flight, then suppresses your REM, breaks up the back half of the night and dries you out. The real trade-off, explained.
Caffeine and Jet Lag: Time It Right and Coffee's on Your Side
Caffeine can speed up jet lag or wreck your sleep, and timing decides which. Here's when a coffee helps you adjust and when to put the cup down.
Meal Timing and Jet Lag: What Actually Helps You (and What's Just Hype)
Food is a weaker clock signal than daylight, so the anti-jet-lag diet is overhyped. Here's the meal timing that actually helps you.
Staying Hydrated on Long Flights: Don't Let the Dry Cabin Win
Plane cabins run at 10-20% humidity, drier than the Sahara, so you land parched. How to stay hydrated on long flights: sip steadily, ease up on the booze.
Sleep, naps and movement
Exercise and Jet Lag: The One Workout That Actually Helps You
Exercise and jet lag: a daytime walk in your light window shifts your clock and deepens sleep. The best workout, and when to skip the hard evening one.
Melatonin and Jet Lag: Why It Can Backfire on You
Melatonin has real trial evidence for jet lag, especially flying east, but mistime it and it backfires on your clock. The rules also change at every border.
Napping to Beat Jet Lag: The Nap That Saves Your Day or Wrecks Your Night
Napping and jet lag: a 20-30 minute nap can rescue your arrival day or wreck your first night. How long to nap, when to stop, and the one nap that helps.
Your Sleep Environment and Jet Lag: How to Fall Asleep in a Strange Room
Your sleep environment vs jet lag: a cool, dark room and a warm shower 1-2 hours before bed help you fall asleep in a new time zone.
Planning your shift
Lark or Owl? How Your Chronotype Shapes Your Jet Lag
Your chronotype changes your jet lag: larks handle eastward flights better, owls westward. Expect a modest half-hour nudge to your light timing.
How Many Days to Adjust Before Flying? Fewer Than You Think
How many days to adjust before flying? Usually 1-2. Pre-flight shifting moves your clock 30-45 min a day going east, about an hour going west, and a partial head start still helps.
When Not to Fight Jet Lag: The Trips Where You Shouldn't Even Bother
When not to fight jet lag: skip it if the shift is 2 hours or less or your trip is under 3 nights. Stay on home time and plan around your peak.
On the trip
Your First 48 Hours After Landing: Where Jet Lag Is Won or Lost
Your first 48 hours after landing decide how fast jet lag fades: get outdoor light timed to your direction, hold one wake time, and eat on local time.
Jet Lag With Kids: Your Calm, No-Drama Family Plan
A calmer plan for jet lag with kids: realistic expectations, outdoor play for light, and steady naps, meals and bedtimes on local time.
What to Do on the Plane to Beat Jet Lag Before You Land
What to do on the plane for jet lag: set your watch to destination time, sleep only if it's night there, and time your coffee, wine, water and light.
Popular routes
Do Jet Lag Apps Work? An Honest Answer Before You Pay
Do jet lag apps work? The good ones do, turning timed light and caffeine into a plan you'll actually follow. An honest look at the options.
London to New York Jet Lag: The Easy One You'll Barely Feel
London to New York jet lag is the easy one: a 5-hour westward delay on a daytime flight. Stay up to a local bedtime, expect early waking.
London to Tokyo Jet Lag: Beat the Hardest Trip You'll Fly
London to Tokyo jet lag is a 9-hour eastward shift (8h in summer). Time your arrival light right, and know when to shift the long way round.
Los Angeles to Sydney Jet Lag: Way Easier Than the Clock Says
Los Angeles to Sydney jet lag looks like 17 to 19 hours, but your body takes the short way round: it's really a 5 to 7 hour delay.
New York to London Jet Lag: How You Beat the Red-Eye
New York to London jet lag is a 5-hour eastward red-eye. Time the London morning light, guard the short night, hit a local bedtime.
Jet Lag Remedies That Don't Work (and What Actually Works for You)
Which jet lag remedies don't work? Feast-and-fast diets, sleeping pills, homeopathy and grounding don't move your clock. See what actually does.