The third option concerns your own on-gong health maintenance. You might request staying at a hotel with exercise facilities or you can take a walk (or jog) in the morning. You might also take frequent breaks during the day to step outside for a breath of fresh air. Most importantly, you need to get some lumens!! This means finding a few minutes in the Sun so that your body can begin to more fully adjust to the time zone change. Remember that your existing circadian clock is readjusted primarily by your body’s exposure to direct sunlight. It is the Sun and not your alarm clock that tells your body to do the time zone adjustment. Without Sun, you are likely to be fighting a losing battle in making the adjustment.
There is a fourth option – the one that is always tempting us – especially when we are traveling. This is the option of medication. We can take an Ambien or at least some milder (and less addictive) sleep-inducing medication. But is this a good idea? The problem is not just the risk of addiction (which is the long-term problem), but also the risk of your body not being able to adjust “naturally” to the time zone change. The medication induces a “false” change in your circadian cycle and your body doesn‘t do “the hard work” of making its own adjustment. This means that when you are faced with the challenge of sleep during the second evening, the temptation will be to take another pill. The alternative is a night of fitful sleep or no sleep at all. Same for the third night and any additional night. It gets even more problematic—your body will still want the medication when you return home and try adjusting back to your home time zone. You are on your way to an addictive cycle, needing an increasingly large dose of this medication to fall asleep. Welcome to the world of sleep medication addiction. I know it well.
If you are going to use a sleep-inducing medication, then make sure you are engaging one or more of the other three options. It is particularly important that you get direct exposure to Sun and a reasonable work schedule during your first day in the new location, so that you don’t need to take the medication after day one. The buffer day at the start of your relocation is especially valuable if you intend to restrict your use of the medication to just one evening. Cutting yourself “a little slack” at the start of your trip can do wonders in terms of your need for an honest rather than artificially induced adjustment in your circadian cycle. A similar plan should be in place when you return home – so that addiction is avoided.
