16th July 2026
When I first travelled to China, I faced a large timezone difference from my home country. China was eight hours ahead, and I had never crossed such a large timezone gap before. I searched the internet for jet lag tips, and found advice recommending a variety of practises such as fasting, landing at your destination in the evening, pre-shifting your sleep cycle, and more.
I never bothered to implement any of those tips, yet I experienced zero jet lag in China, adjusting my sleep pattern to the local time immediately. So how did I do it?
When I landed in Beijing, it was around half five in the morning, Chinese time. I had been awake for about fifteen hours by that point. I left the airport around 7am and was riding in a taxi to the train station. During the ride, the morning sun glared at me through the window. I didn't think about it at the time, but I believe this was a key step to adjusting to my new timezone - exposure to morning sunlight upon arrival, sending a clear signal to my body that my environment had changed and that it needed to adjust accordingly.
The second key factor was my willingness to stay awake all day, until my ideal bedtime of around 11pm. This meant I had to stay awake for over thirty hours in total, from waking at home before my flight to finally sleeping in China. No doubt some will consider this a daunting task, but I believe toughing out the first day is the best option to prevent a sluggish, maladjusted body clock. Indeed, when I retired to bed at 11pm that night, I woke up around 8am the next day feeling refreshed and experienced no further problems with my sleep.
I'll also add that I think this strategy's effectiveness depends on your health. Younger, healthier people probably won't find it so bad, but the older and unhealthier you are, the likelier you'll struggle staying awake throughout the day. Perhaps an occasional short nap of around 15 minutes or so may help if you're desperate, but you want to avoid sleeping during the day if you can help it.
Anyway, that ends my advice. It's no magic fix, but if you can land in your destination in the morning, get some early sunlight, and stay up until bedtime, hopefully you'll be able to avoid any jet lag. It's a simple method, and you can disregard all the other tips and life hacks.