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Andrew Herr spent years advising Navy SEALs, elite athletes, and Fortune 500 executives on maximize efficiency below strain. From the battlefield to the boardroom, one drawback stored developing. “Journey wrecks me,” his shoppers advised him.
And so they weren’t exaggerating. In accordance with trade information, 93% of lengthy‑haul vacationers report experiencing fatigue, malaise, and impaired focus from jet lag.
That frustration led Herr to create Flykitt, a system designed to remove jet lag and assist vacationers keep centered and purposeful. It is now utilized by skilled athletes, executives, and anybody who’s uninterested in arriving in a brand new metropolis worn out earlier than the work even begins.
Herr just lately joined me on the One Day with Jon Bier podcast to elucidate the actual cause for the lag in jet journey—and why the same old fixes hardly ever work.
The issue begins with cabin strain
Jet lag is not nearly adjusting to new time zones. It begins earlier than you even land.
“While you’re flying, you are often going to about 8,000 ft of relative air strain,” Herr explains. “That drop in strain and the decrease oxygen degree trigger irritation, which lowers your vitality ranges, disrupts sleep, messes together with your joints, causes nervousness, and stops your circadian rhythm from resetting.”
That is why you’re feeling so foggy and stiff after sitting on a aircraft, even if you happen to did not fly in a single day. “It is not simply the dry air,” he provides. “Flying causes your physique to combat itself.”
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Sleeping the entire flight is not sufficient
Vacationers typically suppose that so long as they sleep in the course of the flight, they will rally as soon as they land. However even past the irritation, Herr warns that mistimed sleep–and even an excessive amount of–can go away you simply as jet-lagged. For instance, if you happen to sleep on the flawed time or an excessive amount of, you will not go to sleep the subsequent night time, and then you definitely’re in bother. To really feel nice, it is about syncing your relaxation timing to work together with your physique’s inside clock.
Within the Flykitt jet lag app, the algorithm calculates the perfect window to go to sleep, based mostly in your flights, your arrival time, and your physique’s rhythms, all customized to you. “We information you on optimum sleep timing and dietary supplements to dam the irritation and get you to sleep the precise correct quantity on the aircraft,” Herr explains. “That helps you regulate easily to the brand new time zone once you land.”
The purpose is not simply to get relaxation. It is about recalibrating your physique to adapt from the place you have been to the place you are going.
Caffeine is not the answer
Many vacationers depend on espresso and different caffeinated drinks all through the day to get them by however Herr says this may be the flawed tactic. When your physique is infected and your sleep-wake cycle is out of whack, lots of caffeine can amplify the issue. “It’d even make it worse if you happen to’re already infected or anxious,” he says. So, Flykitt features a particular circadian reset combine that features simply the correct amount of espresso to optimize how you’re feeling with out overdoing it.
Flykitt may also roll out what Herr calls a “focus module”—a structured set of instruments designed to help psychological readability and vitality. It’s going to mix quick breathwork workouts, stress reduction strategies, and brain-supporting dietary supplements to assist your system rebound naturally.
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Restoration can take longer than you suppose
Jet lag would not hit , and it would not resolve itself after one night time of sleep.
“What folks discover is, even after they get to the brand new location, they nonetheless really feel off,” Herr says. “They are not sleeping properly, they don’t seem to be digesting correctly, they really feel mind fog, and their temper’s off.”
Many vacationers assume the physique will naturally bounce again the subsequent day. However Herr says that false impression results in extra issues. “Most individuals wait till they really feel horrible to take motion,” he says.
His recommendation: Do not wait till you are wrecked. Do the work upfront and keep away from the crash. Flykitt’s restoration protocol begins the morning you allow and continues for 36 hours after touchdown.
Jet lag will not be inevitable
Most vacationers settle for jet lag as simply a part of the deal. You fly lengthy hours, you’re feeling terrible for a couple of days, you energy by. However Herr says it would not should be that means.
“We’re discovering folks in a spot the place their complete routine is disrupted, so that they’re used to feeling horrible,” he says. “And after they really feel the affect of what utilizing the fitting instruments on the proper time can do for sleeping higher, consuming higher, and managing stress, it clicks.”
Flykitt’s method is constructed round that second of readability—when folks notice they do not should lose days of productiveness or enjoyment simply because they crossed a couple of time zones.
“You possibly can battle by it,” Herr says. “However why would you when you do not have to?”
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Andrew Herr spent years advising Navy SEALs, elite athletes, and Fortune 500 executives on maximize efficiency below strain. From the battlefield to the boardroom, one drawback stored developing. “Journey wrecks me,” his shoppers advised him.
And so they weren’t exaggerating. In accordance with trade information, 93% of lengthy‑haul vacationers report experiencing fatigue, malaise, and impaired focus from jet lag.
That frustration led Herr to create Flykitt, a system designed to remove jet lag and assist vacationers keep centered and purposeful. It is now utilized by skilled athletes, executives, and anybody who’s uninterested in arriving in a brand new metropolis worn out earlier than the work even begins.
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