Business Travel Tips

It is estimated that half the travelers do not do anything about jet lag. Furtherly, of those who do, Dr. Rosekind, sleep expert and a founder of Alertness Solutions, a consulting firm based in California, says: “most of what they do doesn’t do anything, or makes it worse.”

Experts warn that the use of several marketed medications has not yet been proved effective for sleep cycle adjustment and the long-term effects are not known.

They recommend trying to adjust to a new time zone in traditional small ways. Getting outdoors and catching sunlight once you arrive in another time zone. Getting enough sleep before and during travel. Avoiding drinking alcohol close to bedtime.

To these common remedies, recent studies add a new one: a combination of naps and caffeine.
Dr. Rosekind says that using simple caffeine to raise alertness in conjunction with naps during a trip is a winning strategy.
He explains:

“Caffeine takes 15 to 30 minutes to work, and an effective nap should be less than 45 minutes, to avoid going into the kind of deep sleep that leaves people groggy. So drinking a cup of coffee just before a nap, can ensure that you will awaken with a little extra zip”.

(source: NYT).