UKC

I don't do much long distance travel but I do love an occasional trip to BC.

When I'm there I can survive by getting up at 0400 and going to bed at 2000, and progressively move into their time zone (UTC-8) over a few days. Dig myself out of a snow hole or two and complain about the cost of living and their tipping customs. It's a lovely place to be.

Once I'm back in the UK however, it's a total nightmare whereby I get up and do something useful 0100-0800, sleep until midday, wander around like a zombie and lie in bed in the late evening waiting to get up again. This goes on for weeks.

Does anyone have a magic panacea?

On the day you get back, DO NOT GO TO SLEEP UNTIL BEDTIME. You absolutely must make it to 7 or 8pm. Do that and it's only a day or two of feeling a bit wonky. Don't and you're screwed.

Get really drunk on the plane/immediately getting off the plane, spend the whole day hungover as hell, then set your alarm for the normal time to day after and you’ll be back in sync.

^^^ this. Get what sleep you can on the plane back to UK (ideally, get to sleep asap after boarding, not easy if they're still doing meal service 3 hrs in and you're in economy). The temptation to nap once back is strong, but it'll be so deep and longer than expected you just end up feeling worse, and disrupting your sleep even further. Heading west is easy, going east is always horrible, for me.

Get in touch with Michael Jackson's doctor for the flight home.

Sail home?

Amongst colleagues it seems we're all different in terms of what works, but here's my strategy...

Sit on the window seat coming home, earplugs, blanket, eye mask and no booze and no telly, try and get a couple of hours kip. 

When I get home it's jim jams on and 2hrs in bed, set an alarm for 1pm, wake up shower etc. Then do something meaningful in the afternoon,  work, walk, bike, etc

Bed at a normal time, and get up early the next day. Usually feel OK by the following day. 

Not always possible but avoiding alcohol during the trip is a key to more effective sleep. 

What LongSufferingRopeHolder said - stay awake and push through to an evening bedtime. Ideally, be on a night flight that lands in the morning.

We will be introducing the kids to long haul flights at Easter - hopefully, they'll be back in sync before they have to go back to school! Return flight is a night flight, so they'll hopefully sleep and wake up when we land.

I set my watch to uk time once I'm at the airport and just stick to it, its harder to fly against the sun (because you've got less time for sleeping) but ive never really had much of a problem. just sick to it, half of its mental. don't do any 'what time is not now in the US' type stuff just convince yourself if your clock says 1pm youll have some lunch....

The pitfalls of speed reading, and wondering why you need a magic pancake.

Next time you are stateside buy a big pot of low dose melatonin and learn how to use it.  Start immediately you are on the flight (or before you board if it works) by behaving as if you were in your new time zone.  Continue with the melatonin for at least a week, tapering the dose.

Works both ways so plan on having a big pot for the reverse journey (you can't buy it in the UK). You could always beg for some from someone who already has a supply.

I used to work in Louisiana 2 weeks on 2 weeks off (and back to the UK to look after my 3 year old, my husband would leave for work as I returned from the airport).

My solution was Nytol / eye mask / ear plugs (good quality ear plugs essential) and sleep after take off for as much as possible. Try and eat dinner before the flight. Then once the plane lands you've got to eat & sleep as per the UK, so stay up all day until (earliest) 7pm. Next day you'll be fine.

Long term it is exhausting though. Only did it for a year or so.

Doesn't need to come from the US - there are eBay sellers in Poland and Germany who will ship to the UK.  We use it for one of my dogs (as suggested by my vet, for anxiety related poor sleep).  Never had a problem in customs.

I used to spend one week a month on the west coast US when I was working, so I can sympathise! As others have said...

Try and sleep on the plane coming back: No alcohol, no meal, no films. When home DON'T have a nap - get active for the day - preferably outdoors - and power through to something like a normal bedtime. Resist have any naps or even just sitting around - it'll make it much harder to adjust.

Good advice. 

I did my best, and the first night went ok, however on the second night I lay there in bed awake from 10-1, and rather than get frustrated with it, I decided to just get up and work until I was tired, then sleep during the day. Thank goodness for wfh etc.

Actually it worked out ok as I could work without distractions overnight and re-schedule any meetings for late afternoon when they'd all be keen to keep it short so they could go home. Hoho.

A couple of weeks down the line, I seem to be up and about at reasonably normal times but going to bed really late.

So maybe jet lag isn't so bad after all

E2A: Getting drunk definitely works as a sedative, but I'm trying to be off the booze at the moment so not an ideal option.

No, no, no! You're flying from BC to the UK. The plane's going to go over the tundra, Hudson Bay, Baffin Island and Greenland. So just gawp out the window at places that you barely believed actually existed and worry about jet lag later. If someone comes round and asks you to pull the shutter down*, politely tell them that you paid extra for it and intend to look out of it. And, if the person next to you complains, politely suggest they close their eyes instead.

Make sure you're not on an airline which uses 787's on the route, because the windows get blacked out remotely, which is absolutely infuriating.

My husband is able to burn though and adjust in a couple of days. I however find even the hour change takes a few days to adapt to.

It's not just the clock change with jetlag, but also loss of sleep whilst traveling and the anticlimax of returning from holiday. I have tried keeping going in a zombie state till an early bedtime, but it doesn't work. Usually I've lost enough sleep that I can get a few daytime hours and still happily manage a quality nights sleep.

On the way there, we had the most AMAZING sunset I've ever seen, however I paid money for a bigger seat not a window so I had to gawp from a distance. The bigger seats are £loads but worth every penny for a long flight.

I'm not sure the op will get that much say over what plane they get on

One of the very few benefits of being a shit sleeper with borderline insomnia, is never getting jet lag. I just power through to whatever time the evening is, and then go to sleep, and then I'm fine the next morning. 

So my advice would be no matter what time you land, you power through to the next evening. 

So if you land at 1am wide awake, don't just go to sleep when you get sleepy at 8am. When you're getting sleepy at 8am, get some coffee in you, and just power through until 10pm and then go to sleep. 

You get 2nd winds, 3rd winds, etc. 

I once didn't sleep for about 50 hours coming back from Australia. I landed at about 2pm in the UK, and still didn't go to sleep until about 11pm in the end. Next day I was fine. 

Recently returning from San Francisco, got home at 1pm after a long journey via Frankfurt and pushed on through until 11pm.

I thought that I had cracked it, but for a week I was waking up at 2am and properly knackered for the rest of the day.

I fly long haul a lot for short trips (2-3 days) and I use different strategies going east and west. West is easy - I just stay in the time zone of the UK. This has some issues if you are required to be out for dinner (I try and avoid this) and also means getting to the gym for 0300. If staying longer, just stay up, which is a bit grim.

Going east I adopt the time zone of the destination at takeoff. This involves being able to sleep on demand in the plane which is certainly a challenge in ecomony (ear plugs and eye patch recommended). Flying business might cost more but it's often worth a day or two extra of you are in the destination country for any time. If you are transiting (Dubai, Singapore etc) then this often is at night (UK) but daytime so get out of the airport and do something. Singapore is good for this - even if only a few hours in a museum it keeps you awake. 

Avoid drinking alcohol as you just end up more tired. Drink lots of water and take hydrating eye drops.

What if it's dark?

(You are right, though. One of the best moments I've ever had flying was randomly wandering down the aisle and from the exit window seeing dawn-lit rice terraces as far as the eye could see, like OS contours made real. Never seen it since, despite trying too!)

Actually, your post brings to mind the best advice -- get a day flight back to the UK, if possible. They are few, but they are amazing. I got a day flight back from Hong Kong, just stayed up, working/watching with a little mid-flight snooze after lunch, and it was the smoothest transition