Plan your jet lag recovery.
Jet lag is the gap between the time on the wall and the time on your body. The bigger the gap, the longer your circadian system needs to catch up — and the harder it is to push through with willpower alone. This planner gives you a schedule for the three days before you fly, what to do on arrival, and the recovery window that follows.
Common questions.
Why is eastward harder than westward?
Your body's free-running circadian period is about 24.2 hours — slightly longer than a day. That means without external cues, you would drift to a later sleep time each day. Westward travel asks your body to do exactly that — go to bed later. Eastward asks the opposite, which is why it takes more days and feels harder. The rule of thumb is one day per time zone east, about 0.7 day per time zone west.
Should I take melatonin?
It can help, but the dosing and timing are direction-specific and matter more than the dose itself. For eastward travel, low-dose melatonin (0.5mg) in the early evening at destination can help phase-advance. For westward, melatonin in the early morning at destination can help phase-delay. Get specific timing from a pharmacist or sleep clinician — generic advice does more harm than no advice.
What about jet lag from short trips?
Shifts of 1 to 2 hours usually adapt within a day or two with no formal preparation. The biggest lever is syncing to local meal and sleep times immediately on arrival. The planner gives you a soft recommendation in this band rather than a full pre-flight schedule.
Can I shift more than 1 hour per day before the flight?
You can in theory, but in practice 1 hour per day is what most people sustain alongside normal work and family obligations. The planner caps the pre-flight shift at 3 hours total over 3 days. If you have flexibility for longer prep — a week of vacation before a major trip — you can shift 30 minutes per day for up to 6 days for a smoother adjustment.
What if I sleep on the plane?
If your destination time matches local night, sleep. If it does not, stay awake. The deciding factor is what time it will be at destination when you land — try to arrive close to your local bedtime, not in the middle of a local afternoon. A short eye-mask + earplugs nap on a daytime-arrival flight is fine but stop sleeping 2-3 hours before you land.
What's the source for the recovery rates?
Eastman & Burgess 2009 review in Sleep Medicine Clinics consolidated the evidence and the AASM 2007 clinical guideline (Sack et al.) endorses similar rates. Both papers are the standard references for circadian adjustment to travel — the rates are population averages and individual variation is wide, but they hold up across studies.
Keep going
- ToolSleep cycle calculator
Find the destination bedtime that aligns with the new wake time.
- ToolMelatonin dose calculator
Get the right dose + timing for jet-lag use specifically — different from sleep-onset use.
- ToolSleep debt calculator
Track the post-flight recovery window.
- ToolCaffeine cutoff calculator
On long flights east, caffeine timing makes or breaks the shift.
- ToolNap optimizer
On arrival day, the right nap shape can salvage or wreck your reset.
Reviewed by Dr. Logan Foley, CSSCreview pending