INTRODUCTION - Europe by Eurail 2015: Touring Europe by Train - page 30

is, Day 2.) During the flight you will be exposed to a cocktail hour, a dinner hour,
and a break for an after-dinner drink, followed by a full-length feature movie.
In the morning, as the sun rises in the east over Europe, you'll be awakened for
breakfast an hour or so before landing.
Add up the time consumed by all the scheduled events while en route, and you'll
quickly conclude that your night spent in the sky over the Atlantic Ocean consisted
of many things—except sleep. Even if you did manage to sleep during the entire
trip instead of eating, drinking, and watching movies, your body and all its functions
will be arriving in Europe a few hours after midnight by North American time. You
will crave adjustment to the phenomenon known as jet lag, which will be trying its
best to interrupt your plans for a carefree vacation.
The following explanation of what jet lag is and some means to combat it should
prove helpful to any traveler undergoing four or more hours of time change.
The human body has numerous rhythms; sleep is one of them. Even without
sunlight, as in a cave, the body will still maintain a twenty-four-hour awake/asleep
cycle. The heart rate falls to a very low ebb in the early hours of the morning, when
you are usually asleep. Body temperature, which affects the mental processes,
also drops during this time. Consequently, if an air traveler is transported rapidly to
a time zone five or six hours ahead of that of the departure point, even though it
may be 8:00 or 9:00 a.m. at the arrival point in local time, the traveler's body func-
tions are at a low ebb. As a result, the traveler feels subpar, and this feeling can
persist for as long as two or three days unless something is done to correct it.
To cope effectively with jet lag, start varying your normal sleep-eat-work pattern
a week or so before your departure. If you are normally up by 7:00 a.m. and in bed
around 11:00 p.m. or so, get up earlier and go to bed later for a few days. Then
reverse the procedure by sleeping in a bit in the morning and going to bed ahead
of your normal time. Vary your mealtimes, possibly putting off breakfast until lunch-
time. This will condition your body to accept changes in routines. In turn, when the
big transatlantic change comes, it won't be as much of a shock on your system.
Remember, to lessen the effects of jet lag en route, avoid excessive drinking of
alcohol and soda and eating. Set your watch to local time at your destination as
you descend on your flight. By doing this, you subconsciously accelerate your ad-
justment to the new time zone. For example, how many times have you looked at
your watch and then realized you were hungry? After your arrival, exercise the first
day by taking a vigorous walk, followed by a long nap. Then take it easy for the
rest of your arrival day. From now on begin doing everything you normally do back
home according to the new local time.
Some seasoned transatlantic travelers take even stronger precautions to avoid
jet lag. They follow the rule of “no coffee, tea, food, wine, beer, or liquor” on the day