Jet lag - what's worse, east to west or west to east?

Cyclefrance · 09-17-2005, 07:26 PM

I seem to suffer the same both ways, but some say west to east is the worse direction.

East to West: a few years back, wife and I 'did' New York via Vigin Holidays, staying at the Radisson near the Licoln Centre. Arrived about 5.00 pm local time (10.00pm equivalent in UK), and, feeling fairly knackered, decided that we would sleep an hour or so and then go out for a meal. Hotel reception offered a choice of rooms one on the 10th and one on the fifth. Wife decided fifth (not so keen on lifts/elevators). Not a bad room but aircon was noisy. Unpacked, prepared for nap, turned down aircon - noise still loud. Hmmm? Noticed net curtain at window, so pulled it back to reveal two foot square trunking stretching entire height of hotel, being aircon duct for whole hotel and just outside our window! Phone reception. Chance room on 2nd floor. Even better from lift viewpoint. Moved by helpful porter to new room, clothes transported on rack to save re-packing. Tip accordingly. Nice room , no aircon noise. Settle down in bed, but can hear 'neighbours'. Two young college lads planning evening out - OK we can live with that for half an hour before they go. Plenty of talking. Can hear every word. Then, knock on their door. Door opened. Screams of delight. Friends have turned up. 'Hell, why should we go out?'(through wall)' Let's party here!!' Phone reception. Yes, 10th floor room is still. Porter arrives: 'Hey, didn't I just move you down here a short while ago?' Smile and explain. 10th floor. Nice room. No aircon noise. No colllege party. Great. Settle down for nap. Full jazz orchestra strikes up. Go to window. Great view over building next door to see (and hear) Lincoln Centre open air theatre just starting a three hour event Admit defeat. Prop open eyes and go out for something to eat...

West to east: Been on business trip and arrive at JFK very early (4.00pm) for AA 8.00pm flight. Any earlier flight? No! Kill time, but not easy as terminal in middle of makeover. No shops, just a snack-wagon (currently closed). 6.00pm arrives and place is filling up. Announcement. Flight delayed one hour. Technical fault. Very little space and passengers for 3 jumbo flights all squeezing in. 7.00pm. Further 30 minutes delay expected. 8.00pm. Flight now delayed to 10.30 pm. 9.00pm. Announce flight cancelled (too late now for crew to take flight as will exceed their permissible flying hours). Will fly us out in morning. Chaos. People going to weddings and other such stuff. Ground staff having tough time coping. I have open ticket so ask for transfer to another airline. Told to wait, while they arrange. 30 minutes later go to check progress. They forgot. Now no seats on any airline they say. Have to fly in morning. Not happy. Go outside for air. As last desperate measure phone company travel agent emergency number. They get me 1st Class seat on Virgin leaving at 11.00pm, but must rush to Delta terminal to check in (ten minutes left to gate closing). Arrive breathless at Virgin check-in. No one there. Mild panic, then find Virgin rep. Flight hasn't closed. Flight delayed. Technical fault. Oh, nooo!! Go to Virgin lounge. Watch TV. 1.00am. Announce take off scheduled for 2.30am. Phone home. Wife asks if I have landed in UK. Explain still in NY! More TV. 2.00 am. Board plane. Further delay getting take-off slot. Leave JFK at 3.00am. Land in UK 6.00am. Not many taxis. get home ventually at 8.00am just in time to take cat to breeders to 'do the business'. Wife asks if I want to go. Totally incapable of logical reason, say 'yes'. Collapse around 10.00am

See what I mean...

How about you? E to W, or W to E?

glatt · 09-17-2005, 08:36 PM

Depends entirely on how far you are flying. West to East is usually worse for me, but it depends.

I did DC to New Zealand. (12 or 13 hours. I forget.)That fucked me up much more than DC to Frankfurt (6 hours) did. DC to California (3) is a breeze.

Pie · 09-17-2005, 09:56 PM

NY-Madras is a killer, no matter which direction.
But usually, west->east is worse than east->west. I can sleep in easier than I can get up early.

zippyt · 09-17-2005, 10:49 PM

i did san diego to okinawa japan - that one was pretty rough
north carolina to iceland - that one was intersting too, due to weather (hot to fucking sub arctic)
i know this isn't jet lag but 22 days on a ship from san diego to subic bay (flip land) was a bitch the worst was the stop in the middle (and yes king neptune did visit)
plthijinx: east to west for me. houston to paris, took me 2 days to feel half ass normal again. granted, the mary jane in amsterdam treated me well! but going from paris to houston was no big deal. so i'd wake up a couple of hours early. yeah, east to west is worse for me.....

richlevy · 09-17-2005, 11:20 PM

West to East is worse for me. With East to West, just forcing myselff to stay awake and go to sleep at 10pm local time is enough to get me adjusted. With West to East, I arrive later and am too awake to get to sleep at the right time.

Since I will be flying to LA next month, and the next month, and the next month, this is not academic for me. I will be repeating the series of business trips I made to there 3 years ago, the first long distance business trip I made in my 20+ year career.

slang · 09-18-2005, 08:37 PM

West to east seems harder.

On an overnight flight from O'hare to Heathrow, I thought for sure that I'd be feeling pretty good by the time I arrived since I normally stay up through the night anyway.

Maybe it's the disorientation of being on the plane or just the excitment of the trip or some combination of many things that mixed me up but by the time I got to London, people were having a hard time understanding me....and I speak English.

The trip back was better....I had written questions and replies on index cards

West to east is harder without index cards.

elSicomoro · 09-18-2005, 11:59 PM

My understanding, based on research, is that East to West is harder on the body. I'm too lazy to look up any real data though.

I moved to St. Louis from Philadelphia in June, and I'm still having problems adjusting to Central Time. I don't recall it being as difficult to adjust to Eastern Time when I moved from St. Louis to DC 6 years ago.

Silent · 09-19-2005, 08:09 AM

I've found East to West harder. Getting up earlier isn't a problem (most of my trips are buisness related) but trying to get up at 6am local when your body is screaming that's it's 1am sucks. Especially when you couldn't get to sleep 'cause your body was telling you it's only 8am.
The only solution I have is staying up as long as possible the first night.

09-17-2005, 07:26 PM	#1
Cyclefrance Pump my ride! Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Deep countryside of Surrey , England Posts: 1,890	Jet lag - what's worse, east to west or west to east? I seem to suffer the same both ways, but some say west to east is the worse direction. East to West: a few years back, wife and I 'did' New York via Vigin Holidays, staying at the Radisson near the Licoln Centre. Arrived about 5.00 pm local time (10.00pm equivalent in UK), and, feeling fairly knackered, decided that we would sleep an hour or so and then go out for a meal. Hotel reception offered a choice of rooms one on the 10th and one on the fifth. Wife decided fifth (not so keen on lifts/elevators). Not a bad room but aircon was noisy. Unpacked, prepared for nap, turned down aircon - noise still loud. Hmmm? Noticed net curtain at window, so pulled it back to reveal two foot square trunking stretching entire height of hotel, being aircon duct for whole hotel and just outside our window! Phone reception. Chance room on 2nd floor. Even better from lift viewpoint. Moved by helpful porter to new room, clothes transported on rack to save re-packing. Tip accordingly. Nice room , no aircon noise. Settle down in bed, but can hear 'neighbours'. Two young college lads planning evening out - OK we can live with that for half an hour before they go. Plenty of talking. Can hear every word. Then, knock on their door. Door opened. Screams of delight. Friends have turned up. 'Hell, why should we go out?'(through wall)' Let's party here!!' Phone reception. Yes, 10th floor room is still. Porter arrives: 'Hey, didn't I just move you down here a short while ago?' Smile and explain. 10th floor. Nice room. No aircon noise. No colllege party. Great. Settle down for nap. Full jazz orchestra strikes up. Go to window. Great view over building next door to see (and hear) Lincoln Centre open air theatre just starting a three hour event Admit defeat. Prop open eyes and go out for something to eat... West to east: Been on business trip and arrive at JFK very early (4.00pm) for AA 8.00pm flight. Any earlier flight? No! Kill time, but not easy as terminal in middle of makeover. No shops, just a snack-wagon (currently closed). 6.00pm arrives and place is filling up. Announcement. Flight delayed one hour. Technical fault. Very little space and passengers for 3 jumbo flights all squeezing in. 7.00pm. Further 30 minutes delay expected. 8.00pm. Flight now delayed to 10.30 pm. 9.00pm. Announce flight cancelled (too late now for crew to take flight as will exceed their permissible flying hours). Will fly us out in morning. Chaos. People going to weddings and other such stuff. Ground staff having tough time coping. I have open ticket so ask for transfer to another airline. Told to wait, while they arrange. 30 minutes later go to check progress. They forgot. Now no seats on any airline they say. Have to fly in morning. Not happy. Go outside for air. As last desperate measure phone company travel agent emergency number. They get me 1st Class seat on Virgin leaving at 11.00pm, but must rush to Delta terminal to check in (ten minutes left to gate closing). Arrive breathless at Virgin check-in. No one there. Mild panic, then find Virgin rep. Flight hasn't closed. Flight delayed. Technical fault. Oh, nooo!! Go to Virgin lounge. Watch TV. 1.00am. Announce take off scheduled for 2.30am. Phone home. Wife asks if I have landed in UK. Explain still in NY! More TV. 2.00 am. Board plane. Further delay getting take-off slot. Leave JFK at 3.00am. Land in UK 6.00am. Not many taxis. get home ventually at 8.00am just in time to take cat to breeders to 'do the business'. Wife asks if I want to go. Totally incapable of logical reason, say 'yes'. Collapse around 10.00am See what I mean... How about you? E to W, or W to E? __________________ Always sufficient hills - never sufficient gears

09-17-2005, 09:56 PM	#3
Pie Gone and done Join Date: Sep 2001 Posts: 4,808	NY-Madras is a killer, no matter which direction. But usually, west->east is worse than east->west. I can sleep in easier than I can get up early. __________________ per·son \ˈpər-sən\ (noun) - an ephemeral collection of small, irrational decisions The fun thing about evolution (and science in general) is that it happens whether you believe in it or not.

09-17-2005, 10:49 PM	#4
zippyt LONG LIVE KING ZIPPY! per Feetz Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Arkansas Posts: 7,661	i did san diego to okinawa japan - that one was pretty rough north carolina to iceland - that one was intersting too, due to weather (hot to fucking sub arctic) i know this isn't jet lag but 22 days on a ship from san diego to subic bay (flip land) was a bitch the worst was the stop in the middle (and yes king neptune did visit) plthijinx: east to west for me. houston to paris, took me 2 days to feel half ass normal again. granted, the mary jane in amsterdam treated me well! but going from paris to houston was no big deal. so i'd wake up a couple of hours early. yeah, east to west is worse for me..... __________________ "Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get. " Brother Dave Gardner

09-17-2005, 11:20 PM	#5
richlevy King Of Wishful Thinking Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Philadelphia Suburbs Posts: 6,669	West to East is worse for me. With East to West, just forcing myselff to stay awake and go to sleep at 10pm local time is enough to get me adjusted. With West to East, I arrive later and am too awake to get to sleep at the right time. Since I will be flying to LA next month, and the next month, and the next month, this is not academic for me. I will be repeating the series of business trips I made to there 3 years ago, the first long distance business trip I made in my 20+ year career. __________________ Exercise your rights and remember your obligations - VOTE! I have always believed that hope is that stubborn thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us so long as we have the courage to keep reaching, to keep working, to keep fighting. -- Barack Hussein Obama

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09-17-2005, 08:36 PM	#2
glatt ™ Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Arlington, VA Posts: 27,717	Depends entirely on how far you are flying. West to East is usually worse for me, but it depends. I did DC to New Zealand. (12 or 13 hours. I forget.)That fucked me up much more than DC to Frankfurt (6 hours) did. DC to California (3) is a breeze.

09-18-2005, 08:37 PM	#6
slang St Petersburg, Florida Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 3,423	West to east seems harder. On an overnight flight from O'hare to Heathrow, I thought for sure that I'd be feeling pretty good by the time I arrived since I normally stay up through the night anyway. Maybe it's the disorientation of being on the plane or just the excitment of the trip or some combination of many things that mixed me up but by the time I got to London, people were having a hard time understanding me....and I speak English. The trip back was better....I had written questions and replies on index cards West to east is harder without index cards.

09-18-2005, 11:59 PM	#7
elSicomoro Person who doesn't update the user title Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 12,486	My understanding, based on research, is that East to West is harder on the body. I'm too lazy to look up any real data though. I moved to St. Louis from Philadelphia in June, and I'm still having problems adjusting to Central Time. I don't recall it being as difficult to adjust to Eastern Time when I moved from St. Louis to DC 6 years ago.

09-19-2005, 08:09 AM	#8
Silent Romanes Eunt Domus Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 702	I've found East to West harder. Getting up earlier isn't a problem (most of my trips are buisness related) but trying to get up at 6am local when your body is screaming that's it's 1am sucks. Especially when you couldn't get to sleep 'cause your body was telling you it's only 8am. The only solution I have is staying up as long as possible the first night.

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