Well, hello. I would like to apologize for something you didn’t even know you were missing and would never know if I didn’t tell you right now. I had a #SelfCareSunday post planed for this week, but I needed images that I couldn’t get while I was on vacation. I also did not keep up with the news enough this past week to post yesterday, so I’ll be posting each of these next week instead. Now that my conscience is clear, let’s get into this week’s project: combatting jet lag.
I had a great vacation for my honeymoon! I had absolutely no issues adjusting to the time change (-2 hours) because our flight left at 6 AM, and I was up at 3 AM. Which means that by 10 PM, I was more than ready to go to sleep. We struggled a bit to stay awake, but fortunately the sun stunk around until about 8:30 PM which really helped. We also had a lot of Suits to watch to keep us occupied. On the return, we had quite a wild ride. We circled in the air for an hour because of an unexpected thunderstorm. Then we sat on the ground for some time waiting for another plane to leave so we would have a gate. Then, our next flight was lacking a pilot, so we were delayed for three hours. When all was said and done… we pulled into our driveway at 3 AM.
Now, this was much harder. Not only did I want to continue waking up at 6-7 AM everyday, we also had a service appointment for cable installation somewhere in the window of 8 AM and 10 AM. This meant that no matter what I wanted to do when my alarm went off, I had to get up anyway. Fortunately, it worked out. I had more coffee today than I would have liked, but I also got everything checked off my to-do list (this is the last item!)
If you want the secret to living a jet-lag free life it is really simple… just push through and force yourself into a normal sleeping pattern. You may have to generate some artificial light to trick your brain into staying away or completely shut out real light to trick your brain into thinking that it’s night time. Sleep patterns and natural cycles are real, and the more you convince yourself to just live in the present one, the better you’ll be in the long term. I am exhausted right now, but I only have two more hours to go!
Here are some things for you to do when you’re feeling tired and like you just cannot go on:
- Wash dishes
- Do laundry
- Write a blog post
- Exercise
- Tidy up your workspace
- Play sudoku or 2048 (something that requires some neuron activation :))
- Do a crossword puzzle
- Have a dance party
Do you have any other tips on combatting jet lag/pushing through? Let me know in the comments!
She’s Got a Whole PhD 