Jetlag

The Joys of Jetlag

“A temporary disruption of normal circadian rhythm caused by high-speed travel across several time zones typically in a jet aircraft, resulting in fatigue, disorientation, and disturbed sleep patterns.”

Yep, I’ve got it alright! Have lived with this condition frequently over the years. Awake at night, exhausted in the morning, hungry at 3am, listless the rest of the day. Backache, headache, you name it. Melatonin? Sleeping pills? A relaxing herbal tea? A soak in the tub? Tried them all.

I’ve tried staying awake as long as possible and normalizing my patterns and yet, when I think I’ve got it licked, it comes back like a boomerang. I do yoga positions to alleviate aches and pains. I eat lightly throughout the day to relax my anxious stomach. No caffeine, no more spices for a while. Nothing seems to work for long.

A lot of this awake time happens at night and you know how treacherous night can be for musings and deep philosophy, I think a lot about the many things I should be doing in the morning or worry about things that I can do nothing about. I am not grounded enough to read a book or concentrate on anything for long, even my favorite taped shows on TV don't seem to do the trick. My a/c is turned high or lowered at random depending on the mood of the moment. Sometimes feeling that its terribly hot and then freezing because I’ve overdone the thermostat, the air is too cold. By 3PM (3AM in Singapore) I desperately need a nap. All in all, not a pleasant condition.

My air travel these days is still considerably easier than say during the years I lived in London or the 12 years that I spent in Japan. Any trip I made then with four kids in tow produced this condition with the aggravated assault of having to deal with a house full of children and their needs in the morning. I remember spending hours playing canasta with a similarly jetlagged Marisa in the middle of the night while the others slept soundly. I think we must have been resentful of their peaceful sleep while we tried to beat each other in the game.

I guess that’s why the movie “Lost in Translation” hit so close to home. I know how many cities feel in the middle of the night. I know how it feels to know that I’m probably one of the few people awake at that particular time.

The only long trip I remember not having this disoriented feeling was when Natalia was a couple of months old and I took her from Tokyo to Buenos Aires to meet the family. Since we were on an on-demand nursing routine, I never felt the difference in time in these two cities which are on opposite sides of the globe. Neither did she. Nursing is nursing. Its always jetlag then even if you don’t fly at all!

Last night I slept better and woke up at 5am. I guess I’m beginning to normalize again. Still, you never know. Tonight is another test. Next flight is in a couple of weeks to welcome my new grandchild but that's only to NYC and the only aggravation will be to once again, remove my shoes for security and have to deal with American Airlines. The grandchild part? I should be fully awake, aware and delighted for that.