I have just returned home to New Zealand from from the UK. The main flight was 26 hours which included a 2 hour stop in Hong Kong. I then had to fly South to my home a 2.5 hour flight. All this plus many hours hanging around at airports. We were going forward in time so although it was my birthday on the 15th I completely missed it! I think this means I am still the age I was last year 
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But what a hideous assault on the circadian rhythm and on my sleep. Have any of you had a similar experience and if so how have you dealt with it?
I was given various pieces of advice from friends and family which included "take 2 valium (diazapam) and a couple of glasses of wine and sleep"
The best advice though was to take melatonin. I bought a packet of slow release melatonin at the airport pharmacy in Hong Kong, as we can't buy it over the counter in the UK or in NZ. I had my meal, and yes I did have some wine, then took the melatonin to coincide with night time at my destination. I slept non-stop for 7 hours. I have done this trip many times before and have never experienced such wonderfull uninterrupted sleep before. My jet lag, usually lasts a week but this time it has been minimal.
I think this is the perfect solution to flying accross time zones and can recommend it very highly. One thing though, make sure to get a good brand of Melatonin in a reputable pharmacy. I have had melatonin before to see if would help my insomnia and it did nothing so now I am wondering if the brand I bought was not the best. Maybe it didn't even contain melatonin. The brand I used this time was called MelaPure Dual Release Melatonin and came in 3mg tablets. Click on the 2 below to see more information on Melatonin.
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I’ve been taking melatonin to help with trips from the US to China and back, both on the plane and for a few weeks to adjust to the 12 hour local time differences. I always take about 1mg sublingual to fall asleep along with an additional 3mg sustained release to stay asleep. On the first trips I was using the store brand at “the health pantry” which worked well, but when the bottles were running low I tried using the vitamin shoppe’s store brand and hardly slept at all. I then experimented back and forth between those 2 brands and there is definitely a difference. Then I tried the source naturals brand and it worked better than either of the other 2 brands. So now I’m wondering what the best brands are. Through personal experience I can say that source naturals is good, but there may be a brand that’s much better. Has anyone found a better brand?
Thanks for your input. I think that there are fake drugs around. you just need to stick to the brand that worked for you.
I found a melatonin product that works for me. It is made by a company called fbshealth. I bought it from their website.
They are foil wrapped drops: they taste OK, and I don’t need to ask for water or anything when I’m on the plane, which is a hassle. I guess it’s essentially the same as a sub-lingual, in that they can be absorbed by the mucous membranes in my mouth. But I always found keeping something under my tongue irritates it, so I like these better.
I always have trouble sleeping on the plane, so if I’m taking a long flight, I eat one or two about 30 minutes before when it would be my bedtime at my destination. That usually does the trick. Or I if I’m on the ground, I eat one just before bedtime.
I travel a lot so I just keep some on me in my wallet, so I don’t forget.