Jet lag sucks!!!

I don’t want to be wasting my trip to South Africa sleeping the day away.  I would rather be bombing Dragon Dune on my sand board.  So, I have tried everything in the book to fight the good jet lag fight.

But nothing was working like I needed it to: not the sunlight exposure, not the funny looking blue light blocking glasses, and not the hard boiled eggs and anchovies that Ben Greenfield told me to eat on my flight…sorry to the guy in the window seat next to me.

One of my instagram followers, Jose, actually tipped me off by forwarding me this article about a magic fast that cures jet lag…Ooo Harvard Study, must be right!  But just like anything, I had to be a guinea pig and test it out.  It would be right to just recommend someone to starve themselves to a state of hangriness that would make you want to throw your luggage across the airport baggage claim if your Uber takes another circle around pickup lot.  I vlogged it all on my YouTube channel as well!

Click here to read the article in full or just read below to save you a few minutes, minutes you could use more wisely surfing instagram and laughing at videos on the @kookslams or @subwaycreatures account.  Seriously, they post really funny shit!

IN A NUTSHELL:

Your body uses your digestion and desire to wake up and search out food to regulate its sleep patterns even more than sunlight exposure.  So you just basically need to line up your meals with the time zone you are traveling to.  This is done by scheduling your breakfast as your first meal after your fast.

SPOILER ALERT AND PRO TIP:

The magic number is 16 hours.  That is how long the fast needs to be.  Not 10, not 12, not 14,…16!  I cheated and only went 12 hours and it was not as effective as the 16 hour fast.  Why?  Because this was tested in a lab on mice and that is the number they came up with.

CONCLUSION

It definitely helped!  All the symptoms of jet lag gone completely?  No.  But, like clockwork, my body woke me up without an alarm clock with precision.  It was like, “get the fuck up, its time to eat, anything”.  And then I went downstairs and destroyed the continental breakfast buffet.  Let me know what you guys think in the comments after giving it a shot!

In Health,

Jack Schram

“The greatest destinations can only be achieved by being present during the journey.” – JS