Guest Post: Eliminate Jet Lag When You Travel (Ben Greenfield)

Six Little-Known Ways To Eliminate Jet Lag And Feel Amazing When You Travel.

By Ben Greenfield from BenGreenfieldFitness.com 

Travel is hard on your body. Especially airplane travel – where you’re bombarded by radiation, out of touch with the natural magnetic fields emitted by the planet Earth, exposed to strange foods and bad water, and throwing off your circadian rhythms with travel across multiple time zones.

As a competitive athlete and habitual globetrotter, I need my body to perform at peak capacity when I “touch down” to where I'm going. So in the past, I’ve written about using strategies such as grounding or earthing by going barefoot and touching the ground when you get to where you’re going…exercise sessions to reset your circadian rhythms….homeopathic remedies such as club moss extract…and special “fast-feast-fast-feast” jet-lag diets to counteract jet leg. But in this article for TheFitnessExplorer.com, I want to tell you about six other little-known strategies I’ve been using lately that work quite well.

1)    Water. Sure, you’ve probably heard that you lose more water flying at altitude so you need to drink more water to stay hydrated and beat jet lag. But I’ve been experimenting with relatively high water intake and finding that it helps out quite a bit. Try to drink closer to 12-16 ounces of water each hour, and make sure if you’re in an window seat that your aisle-based airline partner is spry and willing – or switch spots with them.

2)    Curcumin. Curcumin – which is found in turmeric and curries – is a very strong antioxidant which helps tremendously when taken on an empty stomach both before and after flying. I’ve been using about 1000mg of curcumin.

3)    Cold showers. I’ve been going so far as to actually go into the airline lounge in the airports I'm at if I have a long layover for a 10-15 minute cold shower, and/or doing that in the hotel when I get where I’m going. This has very powerful blood vessel expanding properties which dramatically helps beat jet lag.

4)    Completely eliminate processed sugars and vegetable oils. I mean completely. These are some of the best foods to cause inflammation, which you especially don’t want when flying. So while the 80/20 rule may work most of the time, I follow the 100/0 rule with these foods when traveling – they make up 0% of my diet (and yes, that usually means no airplane food for me!).

5)    Lots of sulfur based foods before flying. Sulfur foods are very good antioxidant precursors, and include compounds like broccoli, cauliflower, garlic, onions and Brussels sprouts. You may need to brush your teeth afterwards if you plan on talking to your seatmate on the airplane, but if you squeeze in a few meals with these foods in the days leading up to the flight, you’ll feel much better when you land!

6)    Oxytocin. Oxytocin is an extremely powerful hormone that acts to lift your mood, and also as a potent antioxidant, antidepressant and antinflammatory. Although it’s most commonly known as a hormone that is released after sex, one of the cool things about oxytocin is that you can get your fix anywhere and at any time – including when you’re traveling. All you need to do is simply hug someone or shake their hand. The simple act of bodily contact will cause your brain to release low levels of oxytocin. So find the first person who’s OK with it when you get to your final destination and give them a big, loving bear hug!

For more tips on managing stress, beating jet lag, traveling smart, tuning your mind, and performing at peak capacity without destroying your body, check out the book “Beyond Training: Mastering Endurnace, Health and Life” at BeyondTrainingBook.com. There’s even a free chapter there where you can discover whether or not exercise is bad for your heart (you’ll be surprised!). Enjoy.

Comments

[Marcus]

I don't know why this works, but for long haul flights, I change my watch to the timezone of the destination before the aircraft takes off.

It seems to play some sort of confidence trick on my mind - my watch says its 2 a.m. even though it was 5 p.m. where I was coming from - I know I should rest and try to get some sleep.

Overall, this seems to start the recalibration of my body clock while still in flight, rather than after I've landed.