Jet lag is nature's way of making you look like your passport photo.

- Linda Perret

JET LAG: EAT, WASH OR SMELL IT AWAY?

As with remedies for bald heads, so too there are dozens of factual, fictional and fanciful antidotes for jet lag. You can try, for example, to get rid of jet lag by fasting and feasting, by not eating, by sleeping, by staying awake, and more. One cure I read about advised passengers to "wear brown paper grocery bags inside their shoes."

Do any of these work? Yes and no. I have found that some don't work at all (like the grocery bags), some work some of the time, and some only work in combination with others. Most, however, even if they don't completely cure it, do curtail jet lag. So try some of the following techniques for yourself to find out which jet lag cure works best for you.

Here's another way to describe jet lag:

It's like getting off a not-so-merry-go-round only to discover you're not even at an amusement park!

- Diana Fairechild

WHAT IS JET-LAG?

If you suffer from jet lag, you are not alone. One study showed that as many as 94% of long haul fliers experienced some form of it. Other research indicated that even flight attendants are not immune.

Jet lag includes such physical symptoms as fatigue, insomnia, disorientation, swelling limbs, ear/nose/eye irritations, headaches, bowel irregularity and lightheadedness.

In other words, your body is out of whack. So much so that it can impede both your physical and mental performance. Greg Louganis, the world champion Olympic diver, for example, blamed jet lag as the cause of his accidentally hitting his head on the diving platform during the 1979 Olympic trials. John Foster Dulles, the American Secretary of State, blamed jet lag for his poor judgment after he flew to Egypt to conduct negotiations on the Aswan Dam.

Jet lag occurs because changes in time zones confuse the body's 24-hour inner clock known as "circadian rhythms." If you live in California, for example, and fly to New York, it is three hours later. If you are now on the East coast and you are ready to go to bed at your usual time of 11 P.M., your body knows it is only 8 P.M. and thus has a hard time getting to sleep. Then in the morning when you arise at 6 A.M., your body is saying "Wait a minute, it's only 3 A.M."

It can take as long as one day to adjust for each time zone you cross. It is not the length of your flight that will determine how much jet lag you might experience but how many time zones you have gone through. Jet lag seems to be worse flying eastward. Traveling north to south within the same time zone, on the other hand, produces none.

In addition, your general health, personal habits and age play a part in your susceptibility to jet lag. For example, babies are scarcely bothered by it. For adults, being well rested can help reduce jet lag symptoms while overeating, smoking and drinking alcohol can make it worse.

I have jet lag. That's when you arrive and your luggage is in better shape than you are.

- Gene Perret

Travel Secret: Sleep-away jet lag

If you are flying from the West coast to the East coast, adjust your sleep time before you leave on your trip. For example, if your normal bedtime is midnight, then three nights before you travel go to sleep at 11 P.M. Two days before you travel, retire at 10 P.M. And the night before your trip, go to sleep at 9 P.M. (which is midnight on the East coast).

On international travel, seasoned passengers either book overnight flights when heading east, so they can sleep most of the flight, or flights that arrive at night, so they can go to bed at their destination. (Take an eye mask to enhance sleep on the plane and at your destination.)

Travel Secret: Change-your-watch cure

Adapt to your new time zone as quickly as possible, especially at meal and sleep times.

On the plane-- change your watch to your destination time zone. Sleep on the plane if it is bedtime in your arrival city, stay awake if it isn't.

When you arrive-- don't think about what time it is "back home." Also, resist taking a nap; it delays adjustment to your new time zone. If you must nap, keep it short. If you are on a business trip and need to keep track of the time in "the office" I suggest a watch with two time zones. For me, as a very frequent traveler I must have a "home time" to fully understand what my body is telling me. Eat, sleep, exercise, etc. Even though I may not be able to accept that time has changed, I do try to keep the same schedule when out of town, especially on bi-coastal trips where the time zones are either two hours earlier or later. In this manner the return to my "home time" is not so dramatic.

A drug called Melatonin has been used effectively on sheep, but how many sheep do you know who are frequent flyers?

- Erma Bombeck

Travel Secret: Pop-a-pill cure

Melatonin, an over-the counter product, is being touted as the new miracle "jet-lag pill". It is a substance naturally produced in humans at night. Supposedly it tricks the body into resetting the natural sleep/awake cycle. If taken in the morning, it delays your body clock and allows you to stay up later. If taken at night, it encourages sleep.

After trying it several times at night, I found that my sleep was still irregular, although deeper, but my dreams more bizarre. Another pill on the market called No Jet-Lag comes from New Zealand. The tablets are made of all natural homeopathic remedies to be chewed every two hours after takeoff. You can now order No Jet-Lag online from www.jfainc.com.

Travel Secret: Supplement-away jet lag

Some researchers have found that certain vitamins are depleted in a plane's unnatural atmosphere which could be another contributor to jet lag. To counteract this, one book recommends taking vitamin B12 two weeks before and one week after a flight. Still another source suggests doses of time-released vitamin C (1,000 milligrams) starting the day before departure and stopping a day after the return home.

In addition, on a long flight, potassium can be drained from the body by lack of activity. Counteract this deficiency by drinking orange juice or eating a banana.

Traveling is anxious work. The trouble with 'Getting Away From It All' is that you indeed get away from it all-- all those background comforts of home-- as well as from the unconscious ease with familiar smells, sounds and cultural patterns.

- Robert Fulghum

Travel Secret: Eat-away jet lag

For several years there was a popular and very complicated eating regime to overcome jet lag. It involved alternating periods of feasting and fasting several day before the flight. Supposedly even former president Ronald Reagan and Nancy followed it during their summit travels. One military study, however, found the diet to be worthless.

What is worth remembering is that protein rich meals stimulate wakefulness and high carbohydrate meals promote sleep. Also, once you arrive at your destination, drink caffeine beverages to help you stay awake until bedtime and/or to help you wake up in the morning. And, eat high-fiber foods to fight constipation and avoid fatty foods which contribute to your sluggishness.

Travel Secret: Don't eat cure

Some frequent fliers recommend that you don't eat anything on a flight. Their reasoning is that the body is already stressed by a plane's hostile atmosphere and eating just adds one more thing for it to deal with.

However, like some of you, I do not function well without sustenance. I therefore recommend that you do eat on the plane but in moderation. After all there are gastronomic offerings that will make the entire trip worth any meal that you miss on a domestic flight.

...people don't take trips-- trips take people.

- John Steinbeck

Travel Secret: Let-there-be-light cure

We all know that plants need light to survive. Bright light may be the way to survive jet lag too. However, there seems to be some controversy about which kind of light works best-- natural, artificial, morning or afternoon.

One hotel in Germany, for example, has installed a jet lag treatment room which is equipped with artificial high intensity lighting. Some jet lag light-cure advocates, on the other hand, suggest that you must get outdoors-- five hours of sunlight a day are recommended. And two Harvard scientists are advising that in order for light to be effective against jet lag it must be very specific-- avoid it in the morning, they say, and maximize it in the afternoon.

Travel Secret: Exercise-away jet lag

One German study found sedentary passengers suffered more jet lag than those who walked or exercised. Exercise, both in the air and upon arrival, will circulate your blood and help you feel rejuvenated.

When you're at the airport, forget those moving sidewalks. Instead, walk to your plane, walk during layovers, walk when your plane is delayed. In addition to helping you adjust to flying stagnation, it also helps time fly.

Discoveries are often made by not following instructions, by going off the main road, by trying the untried. Each trip should result in you finding at least one new discovery and savoring the experience.

- Jim Feldman

Travel Secret: Wash-away jet lag

Drink it, splash your face with it, inhale it, spray yourself with it, bathe in it. The dry atmosphere of planes puts a tremendous stress on your body. Counteract this by drenching yourself with water both inside and out.

One authority, who thinks that dehydration is the main culprit of jet lag, recommends that you drink two glasses of water before getting on the plane and one or more liters in flight. An added bonus of keeping your body well-hydrated is that it helps you stay well. Dry membranes are more susceptible to infection. To understand how important water is to our physical well-being, remember that you can live for weeks without food, but only several days without water.

Bob Ginsburg , a healer who works with people's energy, suggests another jet lag water-cure. After his flight, he takes a special cleansing bath to rid his body of toxins accumulated while flying. He travels with one pound each of Iodized sea salt and baking soda and dissolves it in warm water. While this may sound a bit odd, before you jump to conclusions, just think how refreshing a dip in the salt-rich ocean is and how it frequently heals minor cuts and scratches.

Imagine your mind like a light switch. Click off dark thoughts, turn on ones that brighten your mood.

- Letitia Baldridge

Travel Secret: Smell-away jet lag

One foreign airline believes that jet lag can be eased with smell. Its upper-class passengers are supplied with an "After-Flight Regulator Kit". Inside is a bottle of "Awake" and one of "Asleep". Each contains a blend of 50 fragrances that either stimulate or soothe the senses. When added to the bath or the shower, they either perk up passengers or put them to sleep.

Travel Secret: Think-away jet lag

The bottom line for beating jet lag is to realize that it is not only a state-of-body but also a state-of-mind. Al Michaels, the play-by-play announcer for TV's Monday Night Football, has traveled millions of miles in his career. He says he has tried all kinds of crazy things to deal with jet lag, but there is only one thing that really works. "The key is to get it out of your mind. The less you think about it, the better off you are."

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