Jet lag is such a weird phenomena. My first day back, I couldn't get to sleep about midnight. I slept until about 4:30 in the morning I think. I got up and went about my day, but finally ended up sleeping for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Once again, that night I couldn't get to sleep until about midnight.
The next day my eyes popped open at 5:00 a.m. I got up, and later took a nap for a couple of hours. I just couldn't stay awake....it felt like I was drugged! I went to bed at 10:30 p.m. This morning I woke up at 2:00 a.m................ I'm still awake and it's 4:25.
I'm not that impatient with jet lag, but some of my family members are, and seem to think I shouldn't sleep during the day. If you have never experienced true jet lag, you can't understand how your brain just shuts down, and you can't stay awake. But actually, I'm kind of glad that one family member keeps coming to wake me up after a couple of hours nap. I'm hoping that this will help me sleep more at night.
I remember when we first moved to China and had terrible jet lag. Our apartment there has good curtains and shutters on the windows, so the apartment was very dark. For the first week, we just slept when we were tired and woke up naturally. For days we didn't even know if it was daytime or night time, we just ate when we were hungry and slept when we were sleepy. That week was a blur. We were lucky that we had the time to adjust slowly.
I know this just takes time, but I'll sure be glad when I adjust!
About Me
- Delirious
- Wife, mother, follower of Jesus Christ and LDS church member, former Taiwan missionary.
Back in America
My Chinese Name
6 comments:
Hi D,
Welcome back!
I never experienced jet lag, so I can't relate with what you are going through. But yeah, take it easy and everything will fall back in place :).
Cheers
jet lag didn't use to affect me that bad years ago, but now a trip across the Atlantic kills me.
On the way out from the UK I find that going to bed late having been up about 24hrs, I still wake up the next morning at 3am, and usually am up to watch the sun rise.
On the way back, flying overnight and not sleeping turns what ought to be 2 short days into another really long one. The cure for jet lag here is to stay up all day after arriving early morning, and then I usually sleep well and wake up late.
Welcome back!
Whenever I travel overseas, either from or to the US, I stay up on the plane and force myself to stay awake until the evening of the following day. I can usually recover within a day.
Of course that works until I get stuck in the Paris airport for 20 hours....
Euripides, I think I would literally lose my mind if I had to spend 20 ours in any airport.....
Tony, my son decided to stay up all night, the night before we left. He slept most of the way on the plane. He has had an easier time than me. But I just can't sleep on the plane...
There was a time in my life that I was in permanent jet lag and when I retired, it took me quite some time to get into a normal circadian rhythm. As you say, it will take time, but you too will adjust.
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