What can you do if you are jet-lagged during a business trip?

Business trips are no joke. It’s not rare that companies set meetings on a day of arrival even if you have traveled across several times zones. Of course, executives are always interested in cutting the expenses but no person can perform well when jetlagged. So what can you do?

First of all, let’s understand why jetlag occurs and what it actually is. Jetlag is the name of a temporary condition that defines the state of misalignment of the internal body clock with the time zone you are in. It can only occur if you travel and cross more than 2 time zones in a day which is only possible by a plane. Although you may feel tired and unproductive when traveling by car, train, a bus, or a ship, it is not jetlag but exhaustion. But both of these conditions’ symptoms can be easily eliminated with Armod – a generic form of the antinarcoleptic or “smart drug” Armodafinil.

How can you know if you have jetlag?

You most likely have jetlag is you traveled to a place in which time zone significantly differs from your usual one. It is natural to be jetlagged if you depart early in the morning and arrive also early in the morning. Your body is already tired as the internal clock says it’s already noon, but in this time zone, you are supposed to be just waking up and be full of energy. It’s an example of when you are heading to the east, but with going to the west you are more likely to develop insomnia as you wouldn’t feel that it’s already late at night and as a result, you will be sleepy in the next morning.

The typical symptoms of jetlag are:

- Daytime sleepiness and insomnia;

- Nervousness;

- Upset stomach;

- Anxiety and mood swings;

- Headache;

- Inability to focus, slowing down of reaction speed and worsening of other cognitive functions.

These symptoms usually are present for 1-4 days depending on how many time zones you have traveled across and your individual features. Unfortunately, it’s unrealistic to wait for 4 days for the symptoms to pass if you are on a business trip. Or even on a vacation, who would want to spend so many days feeling bad when you are supposed to have fun and relax? Fortunately, you can speed up your recovery by using wakefulness-promoting drugs such as Armodafinil, and make yourself sleepy with melatonin pills or sleeping pills.

What other options you have for coping with jetlag?

There are not many options for coping with jetlag considering that it is a temporary state that simply means your body needs to adjust its internal clock to the actual time zone. The only drug options are stimulants for coping with sleepiness in the morning, sleeping pills or melatonin for the night, and some enzymes to help with digestion if you suffer from an upset stomach.

Considering that sleepiness and overall tiredness is the main problem with jetlag, we will focus on stimulants. Basically, you have three options: Armodafinil, Adderall, and caffeine. These medicines except for caffeine are used for sleepiness disorders and attention deficit disorder meaning that they help to focus and improve cognitive functions. Caffeine also helps fighting drowsiness but it is not as potent as the first two drugs and also doesn’t improve cognitive functions.

Worth noting that Adderall was the first choice for off-label use in army, police, by medical workers, aircraft pilots, and other professions who need increased alertness during night shifts. But now the first choice drug is Armodafinil. It is much safer and non-addictive.

Here is the comparison of the three drugs based on the main features: