Reflections on Jet Lag

Today's Japanese Word of the Day:
ねむい
Nemui
(Adjective: Tired)

Jet lag is a curious thing. I have recovered from it by now, but since it's such an integral part of any long-distance journey, I figured it would be a good idea to have a short post to reflect on it.

I heard before I left that it takes a day per time zone crossed to recover fully from jet lag. Maybe it's because I'm young, healthy, and beautiful, but I don't agree. It took about four days, and I crossed far more time zones than four.

So this is what happened.

Sleeping on the airplane? Futile. I got about an hour combined from attempting to get some sleep. That meant I had been awake for nearly twenty-four hours when I landed in Japan. I didn't exactly feel tired, but I must have been because whenever I was standing for the next forty-eight hours, I felt very dizzy.

We would all go through the day feeling just fine, and then right about the time five o'clock rolled around (about two in the morning on the other side of the world), all of us would collectively die. It was different for everyone, but I would wake up at about 3:00 every morning and have to take an hour or two to read or whatever to get back to sleep.

And then there was the illness! I'm not sure if it was because of altitude change, jet lag, or just an incredibly timed cold, but I had a headache, sore throat, and the sniffles for the first few days in Japan. None of it very nice.

But now I'm better, and sleeping through the night. I'm still waking up at odd times, but at least they're all past six AM. Just thought I'd run through that quick explanation, both for you guys and for my own journaling needs. I'm starting to get caught up with my blogging, so these posts should start coming a little slower.

See you in the next post!

~Amanda