Avoid jet lag with these 5 tips

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(MoneyWatch) COMMENTARY  Frequent travelers know the bane of jet lag. They probably also know a bunch of tips for avoiding it. But for everyone else -- folks who end up taking just one or two business trips a year, for example -- might benefit from knowing great ways to beat The Lag. Recently, Secrets from the Yumiverse rounded up nine useful tips and packed them into an infographic. Here are the best of the best -- read the original article for all nine.

Adjust your sleep cycle. For at least a few days before your trip, adjust your sleep hours. If you're headed west, wake up and go to bed one hour later. If you're going east, make it one hour earlier.

Eat right. On the day of the flight, eat a light and healthy meal. Most importantly, be well hydrated by drinking a lot of water.

Live the new time zone. On the day of the flight, set your watch to the destination's time zone and try to start acting accordingly right away -- don't wait for the plane to land at the final destination.

Equip yourself for sleep. If you need to sleep on the plane to adjust to the new cycle, bring a sleep mask, ear plugs, and pillow. Alternately, if you need to stay awake, get up and walk around the cabin as much as you can. You can also eat a lot of protein (like nuts).

Stay outdoors to stay awake. If you arrive at your destination in daylight but your body craves sleep, stay outdoors and get as much sunlight as you can. This will help you stay awake until evening when you can go to sleep and get on the right cycle.

No word on whether taking off your shoes and "making fists with your toes" -- Bruce Willis's advice from "Die Hard" -- actually works.

[Donna21100]

For me, the water is the most important. Between the airtports and the planes themselves, the environment is much drier than normal. And drinking LOTS of water really helps.

Unfortunately, I discovered this just before the TSA started the rules against taking liquids through security. But I have found a way around it. I take a wide-mouth bottle (nalgene or similar) through the checkpoint empty. Then on the far side, I will buy a token snack (or sometimes even a small meal) and ask the vendor to fill my bottle (I ask for ice, too). Or fi they have the fast food soda fountain, I will just fill it myself (w/ ice water).

I have yet to have anyone say no - including the time at O'Hare where I didn't even buy anything. Actually, it's once you are on the plane that they don't have time to get you the extra water and/or ice.

[harvyk100]

For me, when it's a major time zone jump (aka day is night and night is day) I tend to let my body do what it wants over the day I arrive and the next day (aka sleep and to a degree eat when I want to). By day 3 I am fully rested and ready to take on what ever I was sent to do.

For smaller time zone changes I tend try and follow the local time zone from the moment I've landed.

Just as an interesting aside, the worst number of hours I've found to switch between is 3 hours back (so an east to west flight). It's still close enough to your normal time zone that dinner and sleep falls roughly around the same time, but it feels like your pulling an all-nighter. It then on your return makes getting up in the morning extremely difficult.

[seed queen]

Great Article....BUT...I think a Superseedz snack works best...K