Melatonin for jet lag
Pick your cities and your landing time. You get a card for each day: when to take it, when to wear dark sunglasses, when to get outside and when it's fine to sleep on the plane.
Paris is 6 hours ahead of New York on that date. Your clock has to move 6 hours earlier, the hard way: about 6 days on its own.
Every day
3 days beforeMon, Dec 7
If you can, go to bed and get up an hour earlier than usual, with bright light soon after you wake. In the lab, a move of an hour a day like this shifted the clock without jet lag.
2 days beforeTue, Dec 8
- If you can, go to bed and get up 2 hours earlier than usual, with bright light soon after you wake.
1 day beforeWed, Dec 9
- If you can, go to bed and get up 3 hours earlier than usual, with bright light soon after you wake.
Pack dark sunglasses and an eye mask.
The day you landThu, Dec 10
Sleep on the plane if you can. It's night where you're going.- Dark sunglasses from 7am to 10am, and keep the room dim. Light now would push your clock the wrong way.
Get outside from 10am to 1pm. Daylight now moves your clock the way it needs to go.
0.5 to 5 mg at 11pm, bedtime here, starting low.- Sleep 11:30pm to 7am on the local clock.
Day 2Fri, Dec 11
- Dark sunglasses from 6am to 9am, and keep the room dim. Light now would push your clock the wrong way.
- Get outside from 9am to noon. Daylight now moves your clock the way it needs to go.
- 0.5 to 5 mg at 11pm, bedtime here, starting low.
- Sleep 11:30pm to 7am on the local clock.
Day 3Sat, Dec 12
- Keep the room dark, and wear dark sunglasses from when you wake until 8am.
- Get outside from 8am to 11am. Daylight now moves your clock the way it needs to go.
- 0.5 to 5 mg at 11pm, bedtime here, starting low.
- Sleep 11:30pm to 7am on the local clock.
Day 4Sun, Dec 13
- Keep the room dark, and wear dark sunglasses from when you wake until 7:15am.
- Get outside from 7:15am to 10:15am. Daylight now moves your clock the way it needs to go.
- 0.5 to 5 mg at 11pm, bedtime here, starting low.
- Sleep 11:30pm to 7am on the local clock.
Day 5Mon, Dec 14
- Keep the room dark until 6:15am. You'll be asleep for it.
- Get outside from 7am to 9:15am. Daylight now moves your clock the way it needs to go.
- Sleep 11:30pm to 7am on the local clock.
Day 6Tue, Dec 15
- Keep the room dark until 5:15am. You'll be asleep for it.
- Get outside from 7am to 8:15am. Daylight now moves your clock the way it needs to go.
- Sleep 11:30pm to 7am on the local clock.
Day 7Wed, Dec 16
- Keep the room dark until 4:15am. You'll be asleep for it.
- Get outside from 7am to 7:15am. Daylight now moves your clock the way it needs to go.
- Sleep 11:30pm to 7am on the local clock.
Day 8Thu, Dec 17
About adjusted. Keep your usual hours here, get outside in the morning and keep evenings dim.
Times are on the local clock. Your body temperature low is your home wake time minus 3 hours, and it moves about 57 minutes earlier a day after flying east, about 92 minutes later after flying west. The 3 hour light windows, the 4 nights of melatonin and the short-trip rule are ours.
What your plan means
The light matters as much as the pill. Each card's outside time and dark-glasses time push your clock the way it needs to go, and light at the wrong hour pushes it back. If you only follow one line on a card, follow the light.
The dose is small and at bedtime there. 0.5 to 5 mg at bedtime in the new time zone, between 10pm and midnight, for the first 4 nights, starting low. Never take it in the morning on a trip, since early in the day it makes you sleepy and slows the change.
Short or small trips get no pill. Under 5 hours of time difference the plan is light only, and for 3 nights or fewer it keeps you on home time, since your clock wouldn't finish moving before you fly back.
The day count is your clock on its own. About 57 minutes a day flying east and 92 minutes a day flying west, so a 6 hour move east takes about 6 days without help, and the cards aim to shorten that.
How long your clock takes on its own
In real travelers, the body clock moved about 57 minutes a day after flying east and about 92 minutes a day after flying west.
| Hours to move | Moving earlier (east) | Moving later (west) |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | about 3 days | about 2 days |
| 5 | about 5 days | about 3 days |
| 6 | about 6 days | about 4 days |
| 7 | about 7 days | about 5 days |
| 8 | about 8 days | about 5 days |
| 9 | about 9 days | about 6 days |
| 10 | about 11 days | about 7 days |
| 12 | about 13 days | about 8 days |
Two trips, worked
New York to Paris in winter, 6 hours ahead, sleeping 11pm to 7am at home. Your body temperature low is about 4am New York time, which is 10am in Paris. Day 1: dark sunglasses until about 10am, outside from 10am to 1pm, and 0.5 to 5 mg at about 10:30pm for 4 nights, starting low. Each day the light window moves about an hour earlier. About 6 days to adjust on your own.
Los Angeles to Tokyo in winter, a 7 hour move later on the clock, the same home sleep. The low is about 4am Los Angeles time, 9pm in Tokyo. Day 1: outside from about 6 to 9pm, keep the room dark after that, and melatonin at Tokyo bedtime if you want it. The trials found less benefit flying west. About 5 days on your own.
How the planner works
Your body temperature low sits about 3 hours before you wake. Light in the hours before it pushes your clock later, and light in the hours after pulls it earlier, so the planner puts your daylight on the side that moves you the right way and your dark sunglasses on the other. Across the jet lag trials, melatonin taken near bedtime at the destination, 10pm to midnight, cut jet lag after 5 or more time zones. Doses from 0.5 to 5 mg worked about the same, 5 mg got people to sleep a little faster, nothing more turned up above 5 mg, and doses early in the day could cause sleepiness and slow the change.
Under 5 hours, the planner gives light only. For 3 nights or fewer, it keeps you on home time. Those two rules, the 3 hour light windows and the 4 nights of melatonin are ours.
Case reports suggest harm for people with epilepsy and people taking warfarin, so ask your doctor first if that's you. Outside the US, melatonin is often prescription only, so check your own country's rules.
3 sources
- Eastman CI, Burgess HJ, How to travel the world without jet lag, Sleep Medicine Clinics, 2009pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Khalsa SBS and others, A phase response curve to single bright light pulses in human subjects, Journal of Physiology, 2003pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Herxheimer A, Petrie KJ, Melatonin for the prevention and treatment of jet lag, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2002pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
