Here’s the reality of traveling for work: landing in a new time zone often means sacrificing two full days of peak performance to feel like a walking ghost. As someone who refuses to compromise on cognitive and physical output, I’ve spent the last few years treating jet lag not as an inevitability, but as an engineering problem. I’ve refined, tested, and honestly, I think I’ve nearly perfected the protocol. This is how I stay sharp on the road and hit the ground running the day I get back.
This protocol involves deliberate exercise, sleep, light timing, and supplementation. As always, consult a doctor before introducing any supplements or prescription drugs. I am not a doctor, nor do I want to play one on the internet, but I hope some of these tips help you on your next trip.
Phase 1: The Pre-Flight Optimization
Your body's stress capacity is like a credit card. Hard workouts and a 12-hour flight both run up the bill. The week before I travel, I focus on lowering my total allostatic load. This way, the trip itself doesn't send my body into debt.
- Taper Your Workouts: This isn't the week to hit a new squat PR. I lower my exercise volume and intensity slightly. Travel is a massive physical stressor, and I want my body's resources focused on adapting, not just on muscle repair. The day before a long-haul flight is for rest, stretching, or maybe some light Zone 2 cardio.
- "Bank" Your Sleep: This is a game-changer. For a long time, the myth was that you couldn't "bank" sleep. Turns out, you can in a way. While you can't "pay off" a week of bad sleep on Saturday, you can absolutely build a resilience buffer. The science shows that extending your sleep by an hour or two for several nights before a trip has a powerful effect. This "banked" sleep makes you far more resilient to the stress of travel and has been shown to slow down the cognitive and physical decline that hits most people. You're essentially starting the marathon with a built-in buffer.
- Boost Your Immune System: Planes are flying petri dishes. I go into immune-boosting mode: upping my Vitamin C and Zinc, taking a ginger shot, making sure I’m eating enough calories, and using a nasal spray (like Profi) before and during the flight to keep my sinuses clear.
Phase 2: The In-Flight System
This is where the mental game starts. The moment I'm through security, my watch and phone are set to my destination's time zone.
- Time Zone Commitment: I mentally commit to the new time. This means I'm very strategic about sleep. My one hard rule is no napping in the hours leading up to my first night's sleep at the destination. If my flight lands at 6 PM, the last thing I want to do is sleep from 2-4 PM.
- Food and Hydration: Airplane food is generally garbage. I prioritize protein, fruits, and vegetables when possible and leave the refined carbohydrates on my plate. I'll bring protein bars, beef jerky, dried fruit, and psyllium husk fiber to supplement any airline or airport meals. I also hydrate like a crazy person and ensure my body is fully hydrated for the duration of the trip.
- Movement: I get out of my seat as much as possible and use my many bathroom breaks from aggressive hydration to do some bathroom air squats. Just standing up and doing some gentle stretching every hour makes a massive difference in how my body reacts to many hours in the air.
- Deliberate Caffeine: Caffeine is a tool, not a crutch. I use it to anchor myself to the new time zone. My hard rule: No caffeine 8-10 hours before my target bedtime at the destination. I'd rather have less caffeine than normal when lying down to sleep that first night.
- The "Rest" Stack: I am incapable of sleeping on a plane, but that doesn't mean I don't try. My goal is to get as much rest as possible, even if it's not true sleep. I'll do a long meditation with my eyes closed, listen to music, or just try and chill as much as possible. I also take the below sleep stack to help my body relax and on rare occasions actually get a little sleep.
- Trazodone (25-50mg) - This is a prescription drug
- Magnesium Glycinate
- Ashwagandha or Phosphatidylserine(PS100) to help manage cortisol. I will take PS100 on longer flights with more of a chance to sleep and Ashwagandha on shorter flights where I want some stress support.
- Melatonin - only if it aligns with my new target bedtime)
- The "Immune" Stack: I also take my immune stack while in the air to help my body fight off any infections floating around the plane
- Vitamin C (1000 mg)
- Quercetin (comes in vitamin C I use)
- Vitamin D (5000 IU's)
- Zinc (50 mg pill + ~50 mg via Lozenges)
- Multi-Vitamin
Phase 3: Sticking the Landing
This is where the real work begins. The first 24 hours at your destination will make or break your trip.
- Commitment is Everything: The moment you land, you live on local time. Eat, wake, and sleep on local time. No compromises
- Limit Napping: If you land at 9 AM after a sleepless night, you will be a bit of a zombie but push through and earn that sleep. I aim to be utterly exhausted by my first night's bedtime. I am not a napper in general, but if you do want to nap, keep it short (30-40min) and a long time before the destination bedtime.
- Light, Light, Light: Light is the single most powerful signal for your circadian rhythm. As soon as I'm settled, I try to get a workout in and get outside no matter the weather and get as much light as possible during my new destination's daytime. However, this is where the direction of travel matters:
- Traveling East (Advancing your clock): This is the hard one. You need to tell your body it's morning earlier. The moment you wake up, get BRIGHT morning light in your eyes. This signals your brain to shut off melatonin and start the clock.
- Traveling West (Delaying your clock): This is generally easier. You need to delay your clock. I actually avoid too much bright light in the very early morning and instead get a ton of afternoon and early evening light. This tells my brain to stay awake later.
- Exercise: This is another potent signal to your body and I ensure I get exercise in to help my body quickly adjust to the destination time and schedule. I will keep first couple of days lower intensity and strongly prefer zone 2 runs outside to get light. Starting day 2 I will try and do this in the morning to help solidify my sleep-wake cycle and add some strength training if my body and metrics like HRV, RHR, and sleep quality look like they can handle it. If running is not your thing just take long walks outside as much as possible.
- Light Take Two: I also am extra cautious of evening light the first few nights and will keep my hotel room dark as possible to keep the day vs night signals as consistent for my confused body.
- The First Night Sleep Stack: The first 1-2 nights are critical for locking in the new time zone. I use the exact same sleep-support stack I took on the plane to ensure I get a deep, restorative sleep. (Trazodone, Melatonin ~60 mins before my new bedtime, Magnesium, and Ashwagandha).
Phase 4: The Return
This is simple: The protocol is the same. The trip home is just another trip.
Treat your home time zone like a new destination. The moment you're on the plane, you're back on home time. I run the entire playbook again: strategic light, no napping, meal timing, and my sleep stack for the first night or two back.
This might seem like a lot, but for me, performance isn't optional. This protocol has saved me from countless days of foggy-brained misery and allowed me to show up at 100%—whether it's for a 9 AM meeting in Europe or a workout the day I get home