Adjusting to a new time zone before you even board

Shift gradually, not all at once

Moving sleep and wake times by 30 to 60 minutes a day in the direction of your destination's time zone, starting two or three days out, gives your body a head start that a single abrupt shift on travel day cannot match.

Light exposure does more than it gets credit for

Seeking bright light in the morning when shifting earlier, or in the evening when shifting later, nudges your internal clock more reliably than almost anything else available to an ordinary traveler.

Set your watch early, then act on it

Switching your devices and mindset to destination time the moment you board, rather than waiting until landing, turns the flight itself into part of the adjustment instead of a pause before it starts.

Questions people ask