My Anti-Jet Lag Drug Cocktail

While that’s not medically true, I can appreciate the idea as my body tries to adjust to a six hour time change yet again. But the adjustment is actually rather mild, like the last few I’ve done.

Now it’s not because I am getting any younger, or somehow found a body Zen where I can adapt instantly. I may travel a lot, but not that much. No, I’ve just found better living through chemistry.

Before I left the states, I restocked my travel bag supply of Tylenol PM and melatonin. Then day before my trip, I stayed up late packing and geeking, getting only a few hours rest. On the flight to Macedonia, I took one Tylenol PM to knock me out.

That first blast only put me down for three hours or so, and when I awoke mid-flight, I took a melatonin to zonk me the rest of the eight hour flight.

Melatonin is the chemical in your body that makes you sleepy, so I slept well & relatively naturally. But when the body is doused with it, it shuts down internal production, so after four hours, I awoke, melatonin metabolized and no new chemical under production.

The result was an awake, and wired Wayan set loose on the streets of Vienna for an early morning shopping spree. I kept the game going that full first day in Skopje too. Once night came, one Tylenol PM at midnight after an hour of calming reading put me to sleep.

And I repeated this chemical knock-out for 4 days, passing up a Saturday night party invite in the process. By the fourth day, I was completely adjusted to Macedonia, which my co-workers, who stayed up late each night and didn’t sleep on the plane, were hurting.

This is the third time I traveled on my Tylenol PM & melatonin anti-jet lag drug cocktail, and I’m ready to call it a success. Well almost. I type this crammed into a cattle-car flight back to the States, melatonin just wearing off, and we’ll see if I’m brilliant or just jinxed myself.

But enough of my jet lag tricks, what are yours?