As I've mentioned many times in the past on this blog, jet lag is a vacation companion from way back. He shows up at the most inconvenient times and prevents me from getting the beauty sleep that I need on my vacations.
I couldn't bring myself to ask my doctor for a prescription for sleeping pills, so I decided to try melatonin, which, depending on your viewpoint, may or may not be more natural than a prescription drug.
B and I each slept for a total of maybe 3 minutes on our nearly 7-hour flight to Spain. I closed my eyes, put on my eye mask, inflated my neck pillow, and put in my ear plugs, but sleep just wasn't happening. There's something about sitting there with your jaw hanging open in front of hundreds of people that just feels awkward. B realized early on that there wasn't any point in trying and just stayed awake.
When we finally got into our hotel room in Madrid around noon, we unpacked and then collapsed and slept for about an hour. It was heavenly and we could have slept all day but didn't want to waste the wonderful sunshine.
And then that night we slept for 14 hours, so there was no need for sleeping aids.
But it's the second night that always does me in, so before we went to sleep, I popped a little melatonin pill, and wouldn't you know it, I slept the entire night. The next night, even with a melatonin pill, I slept fitfully, but over the next couple of nights, I resumed a more normal sleeping schedule and was able to sleep much more than on past trips with the help of the melatonin.
And last night, for our first night back home, I took a melatonin pill. While I woke up at 3 AM (as usual), I was able to fall asleep again until 6:30 AM, which might seem early, unless you consider that I went to bed at 8 PM.
All things considered, I am officially a fan of melatonin, and it will be an excellent companion for all vacations that involve any kind of serious time-zone changes.
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