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I knew, because I’d been watching the same flipping advert over and over since 3am. I also knew that commuter traffic was starting to build up on the north shore, today’s high was going to be 28°C, and the star of a local rugby team had got a sore shoulder.
Jet lag. I always get it when flying east (flying west is a cinch). Problem is, everyone’s got a different view on how to combat it: “Knock back a sleeping pill and half a glass of red wine,” suggested one friend; “put a blanket over your head and sleep through the whole flight – no drinks, no meal, no loo,” advised another. “I just run on adrenalin and coffee,” said BA crewmember Graham Langley, with whom I chatted in the galley of a 747 somewhere over Afghanistan. “There isn’t an easy answer to jet lag; everyone is different.”
In an attempt to find an answer I went to see London-based Mark Bailey, a clinical hypnotist and psychotherapist whose calming tones have appeared on many a TV show.
There was no swinging pocket watch or “you are feeling sleeeeeepy”. Instead, he chatted in a soothing voice to create a mental state in which my body could later adjust to time-zone differences so that through subliminal messages I could tell myself “it’s time to drift off” even when my brain was trying to fight that urge. Simple.
What is jet lag?
“Jet lag is basically the body’s inability to cope with shifting across time zones,” said Mark. “A lot of things conflict with people adjusting – caffeine, sugar, alcohol, artificial sweeteners.
“Hypnosis helps because it balances your brain waves. If you get anxious around flying, your brain jams up; what hypnosis does is relax the whole system and diminish the effects of jet lag.”
It’s not the only solution, though: you also need to balance your energy levels with foods such as fruit, vegetables and good sources of protein: meat, fish, nuts and eggs. If you can, order a low-glycaemic-index meal and avoid the cakes and bread.
It all seems like common-sense advice. I left with a website link to download a half-hour jetlag-busting session from Mark to take with me Down Under. His soothing, Barry-White tones almost lulled me into a trance as soon as I pressed play. I listened to it once before departing for Sydney, once on the plane, and once on arrival.
On the first morning after the 24-hour flight I slept through till 5am, but by mid-afternoon I was trying hard not to give in to my body’s urge for a snooze. This lasted three days – but as I’ve been zonked for up to a week before in Australia, maybe it did work – partially. For now, though, I’m still searching for that definitive answer… ▪
Mark Bailey’s Reduce Jetlag MP3 can be downloaded from www.markbaileyonline.com
