Jet Lagged
I was on vacation in China for 13 days, from the 26th of June to the 8th of July. Now, China is 15 hours ahead of California (Pacific time zone). So basically: day is night, and night is day...complete reversal. Jet lag nightmare.
I was able to combat jet lag on the way over by basically reading and playing my DS on the airplane until 4am Los Angeles time (7pm China time). I woke up maybe 6 hours later, to about 3am China time. This brought me about halfway thru the time change. When I arrived in China, I stayed up as long as I could and ended up passing out at maybe 10 or 11pm China time the next day. I woke up at 6am the next morning to start the day off with some touring and I was fully on China time by then. I was sleeping between 10pm and 12am, depending on our tour schedule, and waking up between 6am and 8am.
Fast forward to the end of our trip. I tried to do the same thing on the way back...not quite as successfully. The timing was pretty tough to figure out. Our flight left from Shanghai, China at 4pm local (1am Los Angeles time), so I should have went to bed immediately. But it was a short flight (2 hours) to Korea. Dinner was served on the way, so I didn't want to sleep and get super hungry on the trip home. We then left fairly soon from Korea to Los Angeles...maybe around 7pm China time (4am Los Angeles time). Another small meal served which I stayed up for. I finally went to sleep maybe around 6 or 7am Los Angeles time. I slept for maybe 5 or 6 hours, bringing it to around 12 noon Los Angeles time. Not horribly off. Treat it like a weekend where I sleep in =P. Again, maybe it brought me halfway to Los Angeles time.
Christine and I land into LAX and feel pretty good. I think I was pretty tired, but we toughed it out until maybe 10pm when we went to bed on Wednesday night. Thursday I headed to work like normal. I was a bit tired, but nothing to stop me from kicking some butt at work and completing many tasks on my first day back. Friday was the same. A bit early to bed...like around 10pm...and a bit early to rise...like 4am rather than 6am. But nothing to be too alarmed about. 2 hours off wasn't bad considering the 15 hour time difference and the 24 hours it practically takes to get from one airport to the other.
Then Saturday came along. We went to bed around the "normal" time on Friday...around 10pm. Saturday, we woke at 4am. By 6am we were ridiculously hungry, so we headed off to Bagel Me. Good thing they open at 6am...because we got there at 6:02. We sat there and had some yummy yummy breakfast and brought some bagels back with us. We were back home at around 7am with nothing really to do. I was a bit tired again, for whatever reason and so I laid my head down. Next thing I know, I'm waking up and it's already 11am. We were supposed to leave to meet family for brunch/lunch at around 10 or 10:30! The day became an endless battle of being sleepy and being unable to sleep. Saturday night we fell asleep again relatively early...woke up at 4am again. We then drifted in and out of consciousness until noon. Too much sleep left us more tired than not. We were pretty groggy thru the day, which left us a bit grumpy. Then night came and we were awake again, since it was daytime in China. *sigh*...
Now, we're midway into the week after, and things are shaping up. Sleep schedule is pretty much right back on track...whew. I was getting tired of being jet lagged.
What's the worst you've been jet lagged?
I was able to combat jet lag on the way over by basically reading and playing my DS on the airplane until 4am Los Angeles time (7pm China time). I woke up maybe 6 hours later, to about 3am China time. This brought me about halfway thru the time change. When I arrived in China, I stayed up as long as I could and ended up passing out at maybe 10 or 11pm China time the next day. I woke up at 6am the next morning to start the day off with some touring and I was fully on China time by then. I was sleeping between 10pm and 12am, depending on our tour schedule, and waking up between 6am and 8am.
Fast forward to the end of our trip. I tried to do the same thing on the way back...not quite as successfully. The timing was pretty tough to figure out. Our flight left from Shanghai, China at 4pm local (1am Los Angeles time), so I should have went to bed immediately. But it was a short flight (2 hours) to Korea. Dinner was served on the way, so I didn't want to sleep and get super hungry on the trip home. We then left fairly soon from Korea to Los Angeles...maybe around 7pm China time (4am Los Angeles time). Another small meal served which I stayed up for. I finally went to sleep maybe around 6 or 7am Los Angeles time. I slept for maybe 5 or 6 hours, bringing it to around 12 noon Los Angeles time. Not horribly off. Treat it like a weekend where I sleep in =P. Again, maybe it brought me halfway to Los Angeles time.
Christine and I land into LAX and feel pretty good. I think I was pretty tired, but we toughed it out until maybe 10pm when we went to bed on Wednesday night. Thursday I headed to work like normal. I was a bit tired, but nothing to stop me from kicking some butt at work and completing many tasks on my first day back. Friday was the same. A bit early to bed...like around 10pm...and a bit early to rise...like 4am rather than 6am. But nothing to be too alarmed about. 2 hours off wasn't bad considering the 15 hour time difference and the 24 hours it practically takes to get from one airport to the other.
Then Saturday came along. We went to bed around the "normal" time on Friday...around 10pm. Saturday, we woke at 4am. By 6am we were ridiculously hungry, so we headed off to Bagel Me. Good thing they open at 6am...because we got there at 6:02. We sat there and had some yummy yummy breakfast and brought some bagels back with us. We were back home at around 7am with nothing really to do. I was a bit tired again, for whatever reason and so I laid my head down. Next thing I know, I'm waking up and it's already 11am. We were supposed to leave to meet family for brunch/lunch at around 10 or 10:30! The day became an endless battle of being sleepy and being unable to sleep. Saturday night we fell asleep again relatively early...woke up at 4am again. We then drifted in and out of consciousness until noon. Too much sleep left us more tired than not. We were pretty groggy thru the day, which left us a bit grumpy. Then night came and we were awake again, since it was daytime in China. *sigh*...
Now, we're midway into the week after, and things are shaping up. Sleep schedule is pretty much right back on track...whew. I was getting tired of being jet lagged.
What's the worst you've been jet lagged?