Your Cures for Jet Lag are a Sprinkle + Drink away to Fly into your dream trip

Travel

May 2

These cures for jet lag are easy, and might even get your seat-mate asking, “Whatcha sprinkling in your water?”

A week before we flew to London I started my flight prep. The air in planes is better filtered these days, but you can still help yourself out when you fly 7+ hours in that aluminum tube.

I have an inside source when it comes to flying, and he says the new American Airlines 787 has upgraded the humidity system. That’ll help my skin stay closer to the taut grape instead of the shriveled raisin side.

In easy-speak, that means the air in the cabin is not only filtered better, but they’ve increased the moisture in the air. More moisture in the cabin = less leaving our bodies! Three cheers for flying American!

Mix good cabin air with my 4 tips and I’ll race you down the jet bridge at Heathrow with extra energy.

When E + I flew to London for a girls’ trip these four tips helped reduce our lag when we landed.

4 Cures for Your Jet Lag::

1/ Water yourself like a plant

…And not like you’re a cactus plant. Think a lush, green, tall fern of a plant.

Who likes to feel dry and prickly? NO ONE, is the answer.

Be the fern, or at least the lush • tall • and dreamy part. Not the green part. We all function better with plenty of water in our cells. Long flights suck that water from our skin while you’re sleeping or binge watching Ted Lasso.

As you belly laugh at Roy Kent gagging over Phoebe’s halitosis, keep drinking your water {8 ounces of water for every hour of flight}. And I’m sure 8/8 dentists would agree that it’ll keep your own halitosis at bay. When you fly on a new 787, the percentage is much better, but recirculated air on older airplanes has about 30% less humidity of the 50% our bodies crave.

So help yourself out by sticking close to that hour mark.

On any ol’ day, we should be drinking half our weight in ounces for our skin health {and whole body}. No, I’m not a doctor, and I don’t play one on Netflix, but I read a lot of books by doctors. :)

Water = Easy Hydration

Water is the quick & easy route, but we can only store so much in our cells before expelling the rest {that’s peeing}. Fresh fruit and vegetables stay in your cells longer, and give better hydration for the long hours in the airplane. So grab an apple {or grapes, watermelon, celery, cucumbers…}.

The water within the apple + the fiber in the skin of the apple holds in the liquid longer than the bottle of water slipping right down and through you {again, peeing}.

The Water Sprinkle

Bonus points if you bring along chia seeds to add into your water. Add a tablespoon to your water bottle, and those tiny seeds swell to become little hydration magnets in our body. {Found this trick in Quench by Dana Cohen, MD and Gina Bria – great research on hydration.}

2/ It’s okay, this one time, to pack airplane snacks

True, Dr Rick coaches his new homeowners NOT to be their parents and not to pack snacks. But on this long flight, you’ll need a few specific ones.

It’s okay to be like your parents this one time for health’s sake, if it cures your jet lag.

Airports are not known for healthy snacks. So pack some seeds to eat along with your water or add a tablespoon into your water bottle, along with a pinch of salt. {Not the cute little umbrella girl salt, but pink Himalayan or sea salt.} It supercharges your water.

I grind up chia seeds to put in my water. It took major-self-talk to do that without gagging. If it means seeing all the beautiful sites in Rome without mapping out a cappuccino stop every hour, it’s worth it.

Seeds/snacks to pack for your long flight over the big blue pond::

Chia seeds {whole or grind them into dust}
Pumpkin seeds
Sunflower seeds {grinding up sunflower seeds seems wrong on many levels - but you do you!}
Hemp seeds
Apple {can’t do the seeds? The fiber in apples helps retain moisture longer}

Sure, people might stare. But people stare all the time. While they’re staring, they’re really thinking about where to eat when they land, and that typo they made on their Instagram story today. {People really don’t care that we’re sprinkling seeds + salt in our water.}

And for the ones who ask, sharing is caring.

Could be the best conversation-starter they’ve ever heard! And they’ll forget about their Twitter typo. Or was that facebook?

3/ Be overly generous with your moisturizer

If it says one pump, use three. And moisturize with aloe vera - you’ll hit the JACKPOT. Triple-word-score if your cream has SPF too. The aloe in the cream is a barrier to keep the moisture in your skin. {Quench reference again}

That SPF in your cream is protecting your skin from the damaging UVA rays sneaking through the windows. Think about that high altitude + ozone layer that you’re mingling with up above the clouds.

A facial spray can help too. I carry THIS ONE with aloe in my carry-on bag.

4/ You’ve got to dance it out

Where is the space to do that on an airplane?

Even if you’re not a dancer, movement is another way to keep fluids flowing and help cure that jet leg or flight fatigue we always feel.

Specific ways to keep moving if you don’t want to Flashdance in the aisle::

Micromovements on the flight ~ you don’t even have to stand up for this one {chin to chest and raise shoulders to ears 10 times every hour or two}
Facial massage {rub your temples + behind your ears to move fluids to your brain}
Get up and walk to the bathroom {if you’re lucky, you‘ll be plenty hydrated by now and have to pee}

Four jet-lag-proof ways to start your long flight on the best note!

+ one more BONUS TIP::

Getting your feet on the ground and out into the sunshine as soon as possible is another best-practice. Might take a hot-minute to get through customs, but after that walk around outside instead of sitting in your hotel/airbnb when you arrive.

If you’re curious for more hydration ideas, here’s the link to Quench again. {Not your typical ‘drink 8 glasses of water per day” kinda book.}

Hydration tips + recipes, and who doesn’t love a book with recipes inside?!

Normally I pair a good book with the perfect wine, but this book’s perfect pairing is still water with lemon + cucumber slices.

London was a whirlwind girls trip, but TOO FUN for just one post::