Flying Can be Dangerous for Your Health

Jet lag is totally kicking my ass. Here I was, all excited to get home and run around visiting all my friends and family members, and what do I get instead? A 9pm bedtime, a 3am wakeup call, and an airplane air-induced cold that just won't go away. I've still managed to squeeze in a fair amount of activities, but I definitely haven't had the stamina or the all-day energy I planned on. One week after my return to the US I find myself wondering what I could possibly do to put this travel tiredness to rest.

Take last weekend, for example. After Saturday's afternoon baseball game, a friend and I went out for dinner and drinks. I thought it was the beginning of a very late night. I thought we would bar hop downtown and spend hours catching up. Instead, I was dead tired by 9:30 and sleeping like a baby soon thereafter. The rest of the weekend was filled with midday naps and medication efforts aimed at getting rid of my scratchy throat and cloudy head. Today I canceled evening plans with a friend, and instead of a dinnertime concert, I suggested a lunch meeting with another for tomorrow. Did I ride in the plane, or get hit by it?

Jet lag is extremely frustrating. All you want to do is pack your schedule with fun, welcome home events, but all your body wants to do is lay down and rest. And doesn't it seem that jet lag only rears its ugly head after the return trip? Maybe it's just me, but the first leg of a flight hardly ever wears me out. It's the last leg - no matter how long after the first - that gets me every time. My first week in Paris was filled with boundless energy, not chronic sleepiness. No readjusting of the internal clock needed; I was on Paris time the minute my feet hit the ground running. Minneapolis time has been a bit more elusive, but I'm willing to give it another week. If things don't improve, I just might be forced to go back to Paris.