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The Key to Surviving Jet Lag

I flew into Canada yesterday to begin the Canadian leg of my Reboot with Joe: Fully Charged Book Tour so it was pretty fitting that this question came through while I was in an airport. I’m typically in an airport at least once a week so it doesn’t surprise me that you guys are curious about this topic. Watch this week’s Ask Joe Anything video to find out how I conquer jet lag and how I rest at night. It’s not easy, but I really try to do my best. If you have a question for me — maybe it’s about Rebooting, something personal about my life, or anything that comes to mind — I’d love to know. You can submit your question by sharing it in the comment section below or ask me on social media using #AskJoeAnything. If you’ve missed the previous Ask Joe Anything series, you can check out the questions I’ve already covered in the past 14 weeks.

 

How do you deal with jet lag when you cross so many time zones? Your body clock must be all confused!
 
I find that the short term stops, like three hours flying from east coast to the pacific, are more taxing than flying from Sydney to LA. I think there’s a number of reasons for that. The Sydney to LA flight is like 14 hours so I have more time to rest and adjust and the shorter flights like 5 or 6 hours kind of knocks you around since you can’t get a full sleep. But here’s what I try to do…I m a very good sleeper, I actually get lots of sleep no matter where I am so that’s a benefit. And I am fortunate enough to fly business class which enables me to get some shut eye on the flight. But the real secret is setting my mind up to the idea of where I’m going. So maybe one or two days out, I’m preparing myself and I might try to go to bed earlier or stay up later, or get up earlier or stay in bed later and just try to adjust my sleep schedule depending on where I’m going. If all else fails, I go to sugar and which is the problem. Sugar can help give you energy during the day but its only a short term solution and doesn’t really work in the long term as I know all too well. I’m doing my best!

With the constant hustle and bustle of your life, how do you prepare for rest in the evening? Do you meditate?

I am slowly meditating, I wouldn’t say I’m an expert meditator  or a consistent meditator,  but I’m trying. I find that before I go to bed at night I’m pretty exhausted but I tend to have a few quiet moments, 10 – 15 minutes, by myself where I can just chill and have no tv or computer or ipad, and I try to not have any phone…I try! I don’t know if that’s meditating but for me it’s about having some down time before I got to sleep.