tl;dr - get yourself on the destination time clock as soon as you're in flight. When you land, eat and sleep like the locals instead of hiding under the covers for a week.
"When traveling east it can take about one day to adjust to each hour of time difference."
That's crap. I've hopped my entire family (including small kids) over the Atlantic multiple times and it's never taken more than a day or two to adjust. Just power through the sleepy phases until you get a second wind.
The one day per hour isn't "without being able to power through it" it's for "without a noticeable difference". It's 8pm right now and there's no particular reason I couldn't still be going fairly strong by 4am (if sufficiently motivated), but I will not be as awake as someone adjusted to my 4am being around noon or so. In other words, it's a way to estimate when there will be no tired phase to power through. That said, yeah, an hour a day is a wimpy pace - people modestly used to switching sleep schedules can easily flop much more and be fairly unaffected by crossing the atlantic after a day or two. Being used to it and age both make a big difference. Those who are unused to it or older switch much slower (that would include me at 15 v me at 30). How much the sun matters can also depend, I grew up in near complete darkness during the winter and near 24h sunlight during the summer. My daughter and wife (used to the US continents stable cycle) found that incredibly hard to adjust to, even with dark rooms to sleep in.
2 comments
[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 20.8 ms ] thread"When traveling east it can take about one day to adjust to each hour of time difference."
That's crap. I've hopped my entire family (including small kids) over the Atlantic multiple times and it's never taken more than a day or two to adjust. Just power through the sleepy phases until you get a second wind.