Joho the Blog
An Entry from the Archives

I've used it with some benefit, but don't do the 'more is better' thing. I once took six pills after arriving in Seoul. Insanely vivid dreams, one right after the other, all night. Not that restful... and I never really did get adjusted to the 18 hour time shift...

Poor Dr. D!

I rely on my dad's advice. He's a research biochemist, specializing in human physiology and pharmacology.
1) GET EARPLUGS. The green spongey ones are the most comfortable and effective.
2) Drink as much water as you can -- even constant little sips are better than nothing.
3) If you need drugs, get your doctor to prescribe Ambien (or similar) - and make sure you're in your seat before you take it; usually little to no hangover. Benadryl works for many, but usually dries you out, negating (2).
4) Whatever you do, DON'T TAKE MELATONIN. He insists it's just not worth the risks, since quality and strength are ineffectively monitored.
5) When you land, take a walk in the early morning sun -- even if it's just around the block. Best way to reset that old inner clock.

BTW... boohoo for you! I'd love to go to Europe a few times -- in fact, why not send me?

Hi,

The guy from the first comment took way too much, which would explain why he had the vivid dreams. Melatonin is a hormone, and yes you are trying to manipulate your body by taking it. However, like any other DRUG, it has pros and cons. I like the more natural suggestions offered by the 2nd commenter, but if you do suffer badly from jet lag or really need to function well right after a flight, consider melatonin. Check out this article (http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/hl/sp/trvl/trajetlag.jsp).

I've had good luck with melatonin on flights to and from Asia - U.S. The idea is that you take it at around 10 p.m. local time where you're heading, and it's a great way to sleep on planes. The side effect for some people is that it makes them feel depressed. If so, stop. That happened to my wife, and it went away as soon as she stopped. I never take it for more than about 3 days, and I don't take a huge dose (note that people sell it in pills that vary enormously in dose) -- I'll have to see what it is, but I think 500 mcg (where you can easily find 3 mg).

It may be a placebo effect, not that I care one whit, but it works well for me.

something else that helps me sleep on planes is books on tape on my MP3 player (say, from Audible). As opposed to reading or watching the movie, you have your eyes closed and so it's easy to drift off to sleep.

Yes, do be careful. I used to take it for plane trips, but I found if I took it for more than two or three days, I noticed I felt pretty depressed.

i sometimes take it once i'm on the ground on the other side. I don't sleep well on planes either, i'm a bit too broad shouldered for airplane seats, so i'm always being bumped. in any case, my regime for europe is via the redeye, where i try for about two ours of shuteye, not really sleep on the plane. then i hit the ground the next day and go until bedtime their time and about an hour before that... i take a melatonin, if an only if, it was not sunny or i did not have a good hours exposure to sun that day in europe.

on the plane it is a necessity to have good earplugs, my preference is currently my e3c's plugged into the plane's classical channel turned just low enough to normalize manifold voices into some relation to the music.

P.S.
If you do opt for a drug, make sure you try it out under benign circumstances. You don't want to hear: "Is there a doctor on the plane?" Every person reacts differently to medications or herbal "drugs."

If you can't walk, at least get some sunlight on your face -- the light is key, not walking.

And one last: OLBAS herbal inhaler (looks like a chapstick tube). It keeps your sinuses moist, which makes them less susceptible to irritations of all kinds. (All that jetting around is probably how you got your cold.)

I think you should just tie-off, cook-up and bang a bag of heroin before you go through security. Don't forget to pin your id and boarding pass to your outer garment. One rule: don't nod off until you're in your seat.

On arrival, what works best for me is from 30 to 50 milligrams of pharmaceutical grade methamphetamine. Picks you right up.

If you don't want to risk the quality control aspects of the heroin, may I suggest one fifty milligram dose of Thorazine when you reach your seat, washed down with maybe a vodka double? This works best on flights of ten hours and more. Upon arrival, use the speed washed down with several cups of coffee.

Be sure you know where to find the restroom.

I can't speak for your physiology but I strongly recommend if you try melatonin don't drink anything with it. i found when i tried it after a gin and tonic and a glass of wine it was actually quite a speedy mixture. of course if you're one of those dont drink types maybe that's not an issue. you could just fly lufthansa and you'll be so busy using the onboard wi-fi that you'll stop worrying about redeye or jetlag and just mainline blogstyle.

When I was researching melatonin, valerian, and 5-HTP in 2002, I read that all the melatonin on the US market is extracted from bovine pineal gland. That grossed me out pretty good. At the time the possible connection between eating byproducts of cow brains and BSE (mad cow disease) was just too creepy. I don't want to come across as some kind of conspiracy nut who believes everything he reads on the Interweb: I don't think that anyone's identified a real risk here; it just made the melatonin hard for me to swallow.

Even though melatonin is directly related to the body's circadian rhythms, the only study I could find indicated that melatonin therapy did not help jetlag:

http://general-medicine.jwatch.org/cgi/content/full/1999/924/1

Unfortunately I have no real alternatives to offer, except to say that before sleep I sometimes enjoy the occasional draught of my favorite herbal tonic: Jagermeister. It contains valerian root, a natural and gentle soporific.

Good luck with your travels!

I've never tried melatonin, but I usually find that a sleeping pill works great if you time it right, for what it's worth.

Adam
http://aneufeld.blogspot.com

I wouldn't take drugs. Don't sleep for 24 for hours before the flight, drink much coffee, and then you will sleep very well in the plane.;-)

Noise-cancelling headphones are fairly cheap nowadays. Some people are enthusiastic about them, though apparently they blanket background noise enough that conversations that you would normally hear as a distant murmur can be bothersome (a corporation I know of has warned its travelling personnel about the possibility of eavesdroppers wearing such equipment).

As to the original post, I think you need to basically keep yourself hydrated and get extra rest, and you'll be fine. Enjoy the travels!

And I'm very curious about this post:

"...all the melatonin on the US market is extracted from bovine pineal gland"

I'm interested to know the source of this. Thank you.

Jason asked for sources backing up my comment that melatonin is extracted from pineal gland. My comment that "all" melatonin on the market is derived from beef by-products appears to be woefully outdated. Several manufacturers mention "concerns" with animal derived melatonin and describe theirs as synthetic:

• http://www.melatonin.com/melatonin-faq.htm


• http://www.vitasprings.com/melatonin-3mg-60-tablets-natrol.html


• http://www.myvitanet.com/melatonin.html

Research from the 1990s indicates that prior to synthetic melatonin availability, the primary source was bovine:

• http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hpfb-dgpsa/nhpd-dpsn/mono_melatonin_e.html


• http://www.pdrhealth.com/drug_info/nmdrugprofiles/nutsupdrugs/mel_0286.shtml

In addition, Google also found this excellent recommendation here:

There is a more natural source -- melatonin is secreted into urine at night. Those seeking a truly natural dose could follow the ancient practice of Indian yogis and drink their own urine each morning.

Since taking l melatonin tablet at night (I don't
ALWAYS keep it the entire time until complete dissoluction UNDER my tongue, as directions
suggest), I have become aware of some small
irritations on the upper part of my tongue at the
rear, roof of my mouth at the rear and partway
down the top of my throat. No other "unusual"
items taken orally. Anyone have a similar reaction? Thanks for input.

Try Unisom Sleep Tabs. That's different from the sleep gels. The sleep gels are just diphenhydramine, or Benadryl. The tabs have doxylamine succinate, the stuff that puts you to sleep in NyQuil.

I take it about once a week or so. I find that splitting the tabs in half (giving you a 12.5 mg dose) works fine. They put you to sleep pretty fast. They do last, however, about eight hours. That might be too long, depending on where you're flying from.

Good luck.

BTW, don't take natural melatonin. You could get sick from it. Get the synthetic kind.