When I came, 20+ hour plane ride, I tried to adjust to the GMT on the way there. Try and Get your body clock ready. I arrived pretty fresh for a day (I arrived at 6am), the tiredness didn’t set in til late that night.

Some people seem to have more issues with jet-lag than others. I’ve always heard that the best way to minimize it is to try to adjust to the new schedule BEFORE you leave (i.e. figure out the time difference and try to live that way for a couple days – for me, it would be to go to bed at around 6:00AM and get up mid-afternoon). I haven’t tried it, so maybe someone else will comment on how effective this is.

The one thing I CAN vouch for is that when you do arrive, and are jet-lagged, you should do everything in your power to fight the urge to go to bed mid-afternoon. No matter how tired you are, you should at least try to make it until the sun goes down or you will find yourself wide awake in the middle of the night and the entire issue will drag itself out longer than it needs to. Typically, I think the severe effects of jet-lag can be overcome in about two days, and by the fourth day you should feel entirely comfortable with the new time zones.

Def. stay up on arrival until the “normal” sleep time for your destination, and try not to get up from bed until a “normal” wake time the next morning. Get out into sunlight and expose as much skin as possible to the sun — take breakfast outside if you can.

I’m never able to get more than 2-3 hours of nod-off sleep on transatlantic flights. One thing that makes a big difference for me is to stay very well hydrated — drink a lot more water or juice than you think you need. This has the additional benefit of making me get up to pee more often, and the movement also helps me travel better.

I tried neck pillows—they make me sweat.
I tried having several drinks — that makes me feel like a sloppy drunk.
I tried staying buzzed up on colas, coffee, and tea — that just makes me hit a wall and want to sleep more as soon as I arrive.

Lots of hydration, movement, and taking any naps I can steal, adjusting to new times, and getting sun asap first morning, are the most consistently good tactics for me. But each person is different, and even with all of these, I’m never feeling 100% — 70% on Day 1 if I’m lucky.