Travel with Ease – No Jet Lag

Patients ask me about natural remedies for adjusting to time zones when they travel.

I just got back from a trip to Wisconsin and Ontario, Canada. Here I am with my parents and one sister on the shore of Lake Michigan in Door County, Wisconsin.

The time difference spanned 4 hours on the flight home! I left Toronto, Canada at 8:10 AM and landed in Phoenix, AZ at 9:30 AM!

It made for a long day, as I got up at 5 AM Toronto time (you know, the 2-hour time allowance to be to the airport for international flights!)  I meditated most of the time on the plane and slept a little. I did fine back home by focusing on my tasks until an early bedtime. 

I am looking forward to a big trip to New Zealand at the end of December, and some of you are concerned about International fights as well. Here are some suggestions for your time on the airplane as well as to smoothly and restfully adjust to your new time zone when you travel.

Air Travel Tips

Prepare your immune system a few hours before flight:

• Echinacea 1,000 mg or Elderberry
• Vitamin C 1-2,000 mg
• Beta-carotene 25,000 IU

On flight, there are some essential oils that can be used to purify the air, but avoid acting suspiciously by spraying them around.

Stay hydrated:

• Drink non-carbonated water (the carbonation can cause gas pain as the plane changes altitude.)
• Even 12 to 16 ounces an hour (buy extra before you board the plane)
• Add electrolytes such as Emergen-C, or add salt & baking soda (1/2 tsp. each per quart) to dilute juice
• Avoid beverages such as coffee, anything with caffeine, concentrated sugars such as soda, and alcohol. 
• Consider using a saline or saline/xylitol nasal spray or hold a damp hankie over your nose & mouth. (This is important not only because of the dry air, but it helps the immune system and avoids let lag.)

Keep up circulation in the legs:

• Get up and walk as much as possible during the flight. With all that water, it will be necessary to visit the bathroom!
• Do not sit immobile for more than 1 to 1½ hours.
• Exercise in your seat every ½ hour if you don’t get a chance to get up.
• Point and flex your toes twenty times in a row.
• Place your hands on your thighs and push down to resist and lift your thighs under the pressure.
• Dance while sitting down.

Ground to the earth:

• The lack of touching the earth and grounding contributes greatly to jet lag.
• Visualize your feet and tailbone growing down into the earth as you travel, maintaining roots in the earth as a tree sends its roots deep, or connecting into the center of the earth.
• Some have found that lining each shoe with a piece of brown paper helps maintain grounding to the earth. 

Regulation of the Sleep/Wake Cycle

The big adjustment is the difference in sleep/wake cycles. At a travel destination, sometimes it is hard to go to sleep until it is the middle of the night! This is largely regulated by the pineal gland, located in the brain.

• Set your watch to your new time as soon as you board the plane, to psychologically adjust.
• Get as much sunshine as possible once you reach your destination.
• Sleep only when it’s dark (and make sure your room is dark) and not because you are tired.

Instead of sleeping pills which put you out, there are some alternatives to reset the pineal gland and therefore the sleep/wake cycle for the day/night cycle at your current location on the planet. 

Take 7 drops of the homeopathic remedy UNDA # 228 every few hours when flying.

Hear what Judith K has to say:

“I wanted to write and thank you for the 228 remedy drops that you gave me to combat jet lag. They really worked!  I started taking them a couple of hours before each flight, then every two hours or so during the flight, and once or twice after we landed, and they made quite a difference.

My last trip to Europe, I didn’t know about your drops, and when I arrived in London, I felt as though I had a horrific hangover. I was exhausted, irritable, and my ears were hypersensitive to sound. 

This trip, the drops stamped out my jet lag even though it took three days to make it home from Italy. I made it home to Cottonwood without the groggy disorientation I had felt in the past.  Yes, I got up in the middle of the night for a few hours on our first night home, but we were fine the second day and last night I slept through the night. Today I feel near 100% and I’m thrilled that my worst physical malady is hunger for real Italian food–instead of suffering from jet lag!

Thank you so much for keeping me safe from jet lag!”

If these simple procedures aren’t sufficient, you may want to consider using the hormone supplement melatonin. As little as 1 to 5 milligrams, and up to 10 (sometimes men dose this high), may be taken one hour before the local bedtime when reaching the new destination. Continue taking that much each night until you no longer feel the effects.

In addition, we have a flow of energy through our organs and energy meridians that follows a 2 hour progression through the day and night. Chinese medicine has a time clock that correlates each energy organ/meridian with a 2 hour block of time. We can use acupressure on significant points to re-set our energy flow to fit the new time zone.

Instructions for Acupressure for Jet Lag

• Every 2 hours, starting from the time you board the plane, stimulate the indicated acupressure point for the time it is currently at your destination.
• Stimulate the appropriate point with vigorous pressure, rub 25-30 times.
• Stimulate the indicated point on both sides of the body.
• Continue to stimulate a point every two hours that corresponds to the current time of your destination for the next 24 hours, going through the whole cycle of points.
• If you fall asleep, skip the points you should have stimulated, and continue to stimulate every two hours based on the point that corresponds to the current time at your destination.

Example: Leaving Phoenix for New York. The current time in New York is noon, so stimulate H8 when leaving. Then in 2 hours, stimulate SI 5. Continue to stimulate the next point on the list every two hours until you make your way through the 24-hour cycle, ending with SP3 in this case.

1 cun = width of thumb

•LV1 is at the corner of the base of the toenail of the big toe, on the side closest to the next toe.

• L 8 is 1 cun from the transverse crease of the wrist, along the thumb side of the radial artery.

• LI 1 is on the index finger, at the corner of the base of the fingernail on the thumb side .

• ST 36 is 3 cun below the edge of the knee cap, one finger width lateral to the crest of the shin bone. Slide finger up along side of shin bone until it stops.

• SP 3 is on the side of the big toe, between the ball of the foot and the pad of the big toe, on the line where the skin texture changes.

• HT 8 Located at the point where the tip of the little finger meets the palm with a loose fist.

• SI 5 is at the little finger side of the wrist where the transverse crease of the wrist meets the texture change on the side of the wrist.

• B 66 is at the side of the small toe at the crease of the last joint.

• K 10 is located between the tendons of the back of the knee,on the side closest to the other knee, level with center of the knee.

• P 8 is at the point where the tip of the middle finger meets the palm when a loose fist is made.

• SJ 6 is on the fore arm between the bones, 3 cun from the center of the wrist where the back of the hand meets the arm bones.

• G 41 is on the foot, just to the outside of the tendon, at the level where the bones of the two small toes come together in the middle of the foot. Slide your finger up the foot between the small toes to the point where it stops.

Now you give it a go . . .

So, the next time you have a big trip, give these a whirl. Be sure to share your experience!