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Andrew Herr spent years advising Navy SEALs, elite athletes, and Fortune 500 executives on the best way to maximize efficiency beneath strain. From the battlefield to the boardroom, one downside stored developing. “Journey wrecks me,” his shoppers advised him.
And so they weren’t exaggerating. In keeping with trade knowledge, 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 practical. 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 lately joined me on the One Day with Jon Bier podcast to clarify the true motive 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.
“If you’re flying, you are normally 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 power ranges, disrupts sleep, messes together with your joints, causes anxiousness, and stops your circadian rhythm from resetting.”
That is why you are 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 throughout the flight, they’re going to 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 following night time, and you then’re in bother. To really feel nice, it is about syncing your relaxation timing to work together with your physique’s inner 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 personalised to you. “We information you on optimum sleep timing and dietary supplements to dam the irritation and get you to sleep the precise correct amount on the aircraft,” Herr explains. “That helps you modify easily to the brand new time zone while you land.”
The objective 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 way of however Herr says this may be the flawed tactic. When your physique is infected and your sleep-wake cycle is out of whack, quite a lot of caffeine can amplify the issue. “It would 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 are feeling with out overdoing it.
Flykitt may also roll out what Herr calls a “focus module”—a structured set of instruments designed to assist psychological readability and power. It’ll mix brief breathwork workouts, stress aid methods, and brain-supporting dietary supplements to assist your system rebound naturally.
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Restoration can take longer than you suppose
Jet lag does not hit all of sudden, and it does not resolve itself after one night time of sleep.
“What individuals discover is, even after they get to the brand new location, they nonetheless really feel off,” Herr says. “They don’t seem to be 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 following 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 just isn’t inevitable
Most vacationers settle for jet lag as simply a part of the deal. You fly lengthy hours, you are feeling terrible for a number of days, you energy by way of. However Herr says it does not must be that means.
“We’re discovering individuals in a spot the place their complete routine is disrupted, in order that they’re used to feeling horrible,” he says. “And once they really feel the impression of what utilizing the correct instruments on the proper time can do for sleeping higher, consuming higher, and managing stress, it clicks.”
Flykitt’s strategy is constructed round that second of readability—when individuals notice they do not must lose days of productiveness or enjoyment simply because they crossed a number of time zones.
“You possibly can battle by way of 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 the best way to maximize efficiency beneath strain. From the battlefield to the boardroom, one downside stored developing. “Journey wrecks me,” his shoppers advised him.
And so they weren’t exaggerating. In keeping with trade knowledge, 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 practical. 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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