How to avoid jet lag
You cannot avoid it entirely, but light timing does most of the work — and getting the timing backwards makes things measurably worse.
The short answer
Get light at the right time and adopt local hours immediately. Those two do most of the work.
After travelling east, seek morning light and avoid it late. After travelling west, seek evening light and avoid early morning light. Getting this backwards delays adjustment rather than helping.
Light is the main lever
Your circadian clock is synchronised chiefly by light hitting the eye. Everything else is secondary.
| Direction | Seek light | Avoid light |
|---|---|---|
| Eastward (need to advance) | Local morning | Late evening |
| Westward (need to delay) | Late afternoon and evening | Early morning |
The reason the timing matters so much: light in the wrong window pushes your clock the wrong way. Sitting outside at dawn after flying west actively reinforces the schedule you are trying to leave.
Outdoor daylight is far stronger than indoor lighting, even on an overcast day. A walk beats a window.
Pre-adjust, if the trip justifies it
Shifting your sleep by an hour a day for two or three days before departure reduces the gap you arrive with.
Worth it for a long eastward trip or anything where you need to perform on arrival. Not worth the disruption for a two-day trip — for a short one it is often better to stay on home time entirely and simply schedule around it.
On the flight
Set your watch to destination time when you board. Small, but it changes what you decide about sleeping and eating.
Sleep according to the destination's night, not the cabin's dimming. Cabin lighting is set for the airline's convenience.
Drink water, skip the alcohol. Alcohol fragments sleep quality even when it helps you fall asleep, which is the opposite of what you need.
Cabin air is dry and dehydration compounds the fatigue — though note that dehydration is travel fatigue, not jet lag proper. Fixing it makes you feel better without moving your circadian clock at all.
On arrival
Adopt local hours immediately. Meals, sleep and waking all on destination time from the first day, even when it feels wrong.
Do not nap for more than about 20 minutes, and not late in the day. A long afternoon sleep is the single most common way people prolong jet lag.
Get outside early in the trip. It combines the light exposure with movement, which also helps.
Melatonin
There is reasonable evidence for melatonin reducing jet lag, particularly for eastward travel across several zones, taken in the early evening at the destination.
Dosage, timing and legal availability vary by country — it is over-the-counter in some places and prescription-only in others. Worth a conversation with a pharmacist or doctor rather than guesswork, especially alongside other medication.
What does not work
"Catching up" on sleep on arrival. It delays adjustment.
Sleeping pills as a strategy. They may produce sleep without shifting the underlying rhythm, so you wake unadjusted.
Most jet lag diets. The elaborate feast/fast protocols have not held up well in study.
Doing nothing and pushing through. Common, and it simply extends the period during which you feel bad.
Related: Jet lag explained · How long does jet lag last?
Timezone: World Clock Widget
A world clock, converter and live day/night map for iPhone — 325 cities, offline, no account.
Figures on this page are computed from the IANA time zone database. Last generated 2026-08-18.