Macedonia, January 25, 2007
My Anti-Jet Lag Drug Cocktail
I love better living through chemistry
|
In the book Pattern Recognition the main character put forth the idea that your soul only travels at human speed. So when you take a cross-Atlantic trip, jet lag is really the body trying to function in absence of your soul, which is slowly making its way to you at its own pace.
While that's not medically true, I can appreciate the idea as my body tries to adjust to a six hour time change yet again. But the adjustment is actually rather mild, like the last few I've done. Now it's not because I am getting any younger, or somehow found a body Zen where I can adapt instantly. I may travel a lot, but not that much. No, I've just found better living through chemistry. Before I left the states, I restocked my travel bag supply of Tylenol PM and melatonin. Then day before my trip, I stayed up late packing and geeking, getting only a few hours rest. On the flight to Macedonia, I took one Tylenol PM to knock me out. That first blast only put me down for three hours or so, and when I awoke mid-flight, I took a melatonin to zonk me the rest of the eight hour flight. Melatonin is the chemical in your body that makes you sleepy, so I slept well & relatively naturally. But when the body is doused with it, it shuts down internal production, so after four hours, I awoke, melatonin metabolized and no new chemical under production. The result was an awake, and wired Wayan set loose on the streets of Vienna for an early morning shopping spree. I kept the game going that full first day in Skopje too. Once night came, one Tylenol PM at midnight after an hour of calming reading put me to sleep. And I repeated this chemical knock-out for 4 days, passing up a Saturday night party invite in the process. By the fourth day, I was completely adjusted to Macedonia, which my co-workers, who stayed up late each night and didn't sleep on the plane, were hurting. This is the third time I traveled on my Tylenol PM & melatonin anti-jet lag drug cocktail, and I'm ready to call it a success. Well almost. I type this crammed into a cattle-car flight back to the States, melatonin just wearing off, and we'll see if I'm brilliant or just jinxed myself. But enough of my jet lag tricks, what are yours? |
