How to defeat jet lag?

Defeat jet lag by timing light, activity, meals, and sleep to move your body clock toward the destination’s schedule. The key guide is your temperature minimum—roughly two hours before your usual wake time. Light, exercise, or food after it tends to advance your clock; the same cues before it tend to delay it. 1

• Before travel: For eastward travel, start shifting earlier a day or two beforehand: get up earlier and use bright light after your temperature minimum; exercise or eat then if appropriate. Huberman gives California-to-Europe travel as an example, beginning about an hour before the usual temperature minimum. The timing can shift the clock by roughly one to three hours per day. 2 3
• Light timing: Bright light in the hours after your temperature minimum advances the clock; light in the hours before it delays the clock. For westward travel, evening light after your temperature peak can help delay the clock and stay up later. 4 5
• On arrival: Eat on local meal times. If you arrive when it is still daytime locally and need to stay awake, use appropriately timed daylight, exercise, and moderate caffeine; avoid naps that may stretch for hours and disrupt local nighttime sleep. 6 7
• Trips of three days or less: Stay as close as possible to your home schedule, and manage light so most bright exposure falls during your usual home-schedule morning. 8
• Consistency and risks: Keep sleep and wake times relatively consistent. Disrupted circadian timing can affect well-being; in severe cases, Huberman describes circadian disruption as contributing to psychotic symptoms, though the cited discussion is about ICU patients rather than jet lag specifically. 9 10