Caffeine Timing Helps You Avoid Jet LagCaffeine is another powerful influence on the body clock. If you do not regularly consume caffeinated beverages, use of caffeine during the StopJetLag program is not recommended ; proper use of the other known influences will trigger the desired body clock change. If you do drink caffeine regularly, it is very important that you follow the caffeine recommendations found in your StopJetLag Plan. Decaffeinated beverages can be used at any point during the StopJetLag regime.
The facts about
what caffeine actually
does to your biochemistry
may be surprising
The facts about what caffeine actually does to your biochemistry may be surprising. Caffeine causes different reactions depending on the time of the day it is ingested, but in general it causes a short period of stimulation soon followed by a drop in your glycogen (blood sugar) level. In other words, caffeine can actually rob your body of available energy reserves. The program takes into consideration the important variations in its effect on your body clock depending on when it is consumed, and for this reason some of the instructions for its use may seem odd.
The effective use of caffeine for resetting the body clock is maximized if you can avoid using sugar (sugar substitutes are OK) or cream in your beverages and try not to eat anything sweet at the time you have the caffeine. Also, proper timing and minimal use of caffeine in the days prior to a time zone shift will increase your sensitivity to its 'trigger' effect during the change-over .
Be aware that caffeine occurs not only in coffee, tea, colas, and chocolate, but in significant amounts in over-the-counter drugs such as Anacin, Excedrin, Midol and Dristan, plus weight control aids, stimulants (i.e., NoDoz and Vivarin) and diuretics. See the Caffeine Chart the comes with your StopJetLag Plan for details on these product's caffeine content.
Your jet lag travel specialist will review your available sleep options on destination time relative to the times that caffeine can be used to reset your body clock to destination time. Avoiding sleep deprivation always takes precedence over drinking caffeinated beverages.
Courtesy of Katie - katie's Travel Toolkit
"StopJetLag.com will actually create a custom plan just for you.
They'll take into account your exact itinerary and recommend things like
- when you should be waking up,
- when you should be going to sleep,
- what you should be eating, drinking,
- when you should be opening your windows,
- when you should be exposing yourself to sunlight,
- when you should eat."
"All of these things really do make a difference. So this is a big issue and something that StopJetLag is a great resource for."
Sarah Spagnolo from Travel+Leisure
