Can Sleeping Pills Help with Jet Lag?

Full credit for this article must be given to CNN who published it on their Health website in May 2006 but I have kept it saved on my computer and think it's very worthwhile advice to share.

Some may call it a cop-out, others a necessary evil, but sleeping pills such as Ambien, Sonata, Lunesta or benzo-diazapine are to many business travelers as essential as a tooth brush.

However, other people steer clear chemical solutions to sleeplessness, viewing pills with suspicion and sometimes fear.

Doctor Michael Breus, who studies how business travel impacts sleep believes there are many myths surrounding sleeping pills.

"The truth of the matter is that there are some very safe sleeping tablets that are on the market," he told CNN.

"But if you're flying for an hour and a half or two hours, I certainly would not recommend taking a sleeping pill during such a flight."

Although sleeping pills are effective for knocking-out weary travelers, there are always concerns about the quality of sleep achieved.

Benzo-diazapines are drugs that affect so-called sleep architecture -- meaning you don't get the appropriate amounts of each stage of sleep.

Newer non-benzo-diazapines, brands such as Sonata, Ambien and Lunesta, do not affect sleep architecture, offering a close substitute to natural sleep.

Diana Fairchild, a former air steward and now a travel author, says that while drug-induced sleep may be desirable, in other circumstances, such as air travel, it can be a hazard.

"This is not Disneyland, this is real flying where there is the potential of danger at all times," she said.

"So you want to be available if there is an announcement to get off the plane in a hurry if there is a decompression, a crash or a fire."

Herbal remedies

Says Breus, there are other viable alternatives to tablets that offer natural routes to sleep.
"The biggest cue you can give your internal biological clock actually turns out to be light.

"So what I often tell my patients to do is try to fly through the evening, arrive in the morning and then as soon as you can walk outside and get as much sunlight in your eyes as possible because that really helps reset your circadian rhythm or your internal biological clock, thereby allowing you to perform your best right out of the gate."

Other alternatives include herbal remedies like melatonin, a naturally occurring substance that has a large following among long-haul travelers.

"What they are finding is that melatonin certainly seems to help people when flying in an eastwardly direction, but does not seem to have a big an affect on somebody flying in a westwardly direction," added Breus.

Melatonin is available over the counter in the United States, so there are concerns over purity standards. In Europe a prescription is needed.

Experts' tips for recovering from jet lag:

Take cat-naps when you need to
Eat on local time
Get a good night's sleep before you travel
Go for walks in daytime and get plenty of sunlight

Try to sleep at take off when gravitational forces and a shortage of fresh oxygen make ideal conditions for dozing off.

CNN's Shantelle Stein contributed to this report.