How do I beat jet lag?

Get a light and sleep schedule for your route.

A light-and-sleep schedule for your route, based on the direction and size of the time shift.

FromToArrival dateUsual bedtimeUsual wake-up

Your body clock has to shift

5 hours earlier

Eastward, the hard direction: about one hour of adjustment per day. Expect roughly 5 days to feel normal.

When	Sleep	Seek light	Avoid light
2 days before	22:00 to 06:00 (home time)	bright light after waking, ideally outdoors	bright light after 19:00
1 day before	21:00 to 05:00 (home time)	bright light after waking, ideally outdoors	bright light after 18:00
Day 1 there	23:00 to 07:00 local, even if it hurts	morning light	evening light; dim screens
Day 2 there	23:00 to 07:00 local, even if it hurts	morning light	evening light; dim screens
Day 3 there	23:00 to 07:00 local, even if it hurts	morning light	evening light; dim screens
Day 4 there	23:00 to 07:00 local, even if it hurts	morning light	evening light; dim screens

Caffeine: fine in the local morning, stop six hours before your target bedtime.
Meals on local time from the first day help anchor the clock.
A 20-minute nap is fine; a 3-hour one undoes the day.
General guidance for healthy adults, following the light-exposure approach in sleep-medicine literature. Talk to a clinician about melatonin, or if you have a sleep or heart condition.

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How it works

Enter your departure and arrival time zones and travel dates. The planner computes the shift in hours and direction, then builds a schedule of when to seek and avoid bright light, when to sleep, and when to stop caffeine, following the widely used light-exposure approach described in the sleep- medicine literature. It is general guidance, not medical advice.

Questions about this tool

Is this medical advice?

No. It is general guidance for healthy adults. Talk to a clinician about melatonin or if you have a sleep or heart condition.

Eastward or westward: which is worse?

Eastward, for most people. Advancing your body clock is harder than delaying it.

Tool last updated Oct 12, 2026.