Jet Lag: Symptoms, Causes & How to Get Over It Naturally

Jet lag, or jetlag, is the tired, foggy, out-of-sync feeling you get when you cross time zones faster than your body clock can follow, so your sleep, hunger, hormones and digestion stay on home time while the sun keeps local time.12 The way I get over it is to give that clock the right signals on the new schedule: morning daylight, darkness at night, meals and a workout on local time, caffeine only in the morning, and a low dose of melatonin for a night or two.395 Your body does the rest, catching up at about an hour a day after you fly east and a little faster after you fly west.27

Your body keeps time in your brain, your gut and your liver, and the sun is what sets the clock. Morning light coming in through your eyes tells a small master clock in your brain that a new day has started, and that clock passes the time along to your hormones, your digestion and even your body temperature.18 When you land in London at breakfast time while your body still thinks it's 3 a.m. in New York, every one of those systems has to catch up, and you feel it until they do. I truly believe that God created us to live in tune with nature, with the sunsets, the sunrises and the seasons we experience every year.10

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This guide covers what jet lag does in your body, the symptoms, why flying east is harder, how long it lasts, how to prevent it before you fly, the natural remedies I rely on once you land and a simple plan for trips in either direction.

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What is jet lag?

Jet lag gets its name because your body lags behind the plane. A jet can carry you across six or eight time zones in a single night, but your internal clock can only move an hour or so a day, so for a while you're living in one time zone while your body lives in another.7 That mismatch is what separates jet lag from the plain fatigue of a long travel day. Researchers call the full picture jet lag disorder, and the CDC describes it as more than a general feeling of low energy, with sleep trouble, impaired thinking, daytime sleepiness, malaise and digestive upset among its symptoms.2

Jet lag is common, too: in one survey quoted in the CDC's travel guidance, 68% of international business travelers said they had jet lag symptoms on a regular basis.2 The risk grows with the number of time zones you cross, with how much daylight and darkness you get at the right times after you land, and with your own genes and medications.2

As I write in my Deep Sleep Protocol, you don't have a sleep problem; you have a rhythm problem. Sleep runs on a clock, and clocks can be reset.3 Jet lag is that idea in its simplest form, a clock out of step that you can reset with light, food, movement and sleep on the new schedule.

What are the symptoms of jet lag?

Jet lag shows up in your sleep, your thinking and your gut at the same time, because every one of those runs on your body clock.72

• Trouble falling asleep or staying asleep at night on local time7

• Disturbed sleep that ends too early or comes in pieces72

• Daytime fatigue and sleepiness while it's still night back home72

• Lethargy, a heavy, run-down feeling that's hard to shake2

• Loss of concentration and brain fog72

• Reduced alertness through the day7

• Decreased mental and physical performance, at work or in sport711

• Irritability and a lower mood than usual7

• Headaches, which dry cabin air can bring on,12 and a disoriented feeling7

• Changes in appetite and digestion, including nausea, an upset stomach and constipation729

Your gut feels jet lag because it keeps its own clock, as the next section explains. Travel often makes bowel movements less regular, and in Chinese medicine that's because travel affects your digestive system.9 Headaches have a travel cause of their own, the very dry air on long flights, and the hydration steps below help with it.12

Symptoms tend to be heaviest at the start. In a study of 19 top male athletes, 13 flying six time zones west and 6 flying eight time zones east, every measured function was disturbed on the first day after arrival, and jet lag symptoms lasted until days 5 to 6 after a flight six time zones west and until day 7 after a flight eight time zones east.11

What causes jet lag? How your body clock works

A master clock set by the sun

Deep in your brain, just above the point where the nerves from your eyes cross, sits a small cluster of cells called the suprachiasmatic nucleus, or SCN. Think of it as the conductor of an orchestra: it keeps the beat, and the rest of your body follows.113 In a lab study that kept young and older adults in carefully controlled lighting, this clock ran a cycle that averaged 24.18 hours, a little longer than a day, in both age groups.14 Daylight is what keeps it on a 24-hour day, because light reaching your eyes each morning tells it a new day has begun.1 Our guide to the circadian rhythm explains the whole system.

That's why I'd say light at the wrong time of day is probably the single biggest thing that throws off circadian rhythms today, with too little natural light while the sun is up and too much artificial light after it sets.10

Melatonin and cortisol, the night and morning messengers

Your master clock keeps time for the whole body through hormones. As light fades in the evening, your body releases melatonin, the hormone that opens the door to sleep, and bright light at night holds it back.15 In the morning, cortisol rises to get you up and moving, and getting outside first thing helps wake up that cortisol curve.4 When both follow the sun, you're sleepy at bedtime and alert in the morning.

Why crossing time zones throws them off

Fly from Chicago to Paris and the sun rises over France while your clock is still reading the middle of the night. Melatonin, cortisol, body temperature and hunger all keep their Chicago schedule, so at lunch in Paris you're fighting sleep, and at a Paris bedtime you're wide awake.12 The clock moves toward local time only gradually, and as the sections below show, the direction you fly decides how fast.

Your gut and liver keep their own time

Organs outside your brain run clocks of their own, and they take their cues from your meals more than from light. In a 13-day lab study, when 10 healthy young men had all three meals moved 5 hours later for 6 days, the daily rhythm of their blood sugar shifted 5.69 hours later and a clock gene in their fat tissue shifted about an hour, while the master-clock hormones melatonin and cortisol didn't move.8 Your gut bacteria keep a daily rhythm too, set largely by when you eat: researchers found that jet lag disrupted the daily rhythm of gut microbes in mice and in a small number of human travelers.16 So when you eat on local time, you bring your organ clocks along to the new schedule, while daylight takes care of the master clock in your brain.

What Chinese medicine sees

Traditional Chinese medicine has long described the body as running on a daily schedule. Its organ clock places the Liver between 1 and 3 a.m., exactly when many people wake with a racing mind, and it describes the restless Shen, a mind and spirit that can't settle for sleep.3 After a long flight, the Chinese medicine answer is earthing, also called grounding: getting your bare feet on the ground, along with grounding teas and foods, which the remedies below cover.9

Follow one eastward flight through your body below, with the step that brings each clock back.

When I teach on the body clock, I point to Genesis 1:14, because God created the world to operate in cycles of work and rest.10 "And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years" (Genesis 1:14, KJV).21 Your body was made to live by those lights, and when you give it the sun and the dark on the new schedule, it finds its way back.

Why is jet lag worse flying east?

Because your clock runs a little long, staying up a bit late comes naturally, and going to bed early is hard. Flying west asks your body to stay up later, which goes with its natural pull, while flying east asks it to fall asleep and wake up earlier, which goes against it.147 In a worked example, two sleep researchers estimated that a traveler flying west from San Francisco to Beijing would be fully adjusted 5 days after landing, while the same trip back east would take about 9 days, or 10 if the clock shifted the wrong way.7

The difference even shows up in professional sports. Across 20 seasons of Major League Baseball games, the effects of jet lag showed up mainly after eastward travel, with very limited effects after westward travel.22 Direction isn't the whole story for every traveler, though: in a placebo-controlled trial of 20 experienced travelers flying between New Zealand and London, where each person tried both melatonin and a placebo, everyone's jet lag was worse on the westward flight home than on the trip out.23

Very big eastward trips

When you cross 8 or more time zones going east, your clock can even shift the wrong way, later instead of earlier, if bright light hits it too early in the local morning, before your body's overnight low point.7 For the first day or two after a jump that big, favor late-morning and early-afternoon daylight and keep the first hours after you wake dimmer, then move your outdoor time earlier as you adjust.713

Early birds, night owls and age

Your own clock matters as well. In a lab comparison of morning and evening types kept awake for 24 hours under controlled conditions, the timing of their internal clocks differed by about 2.2 hours in body temperature rhythm,24 and night owls probably run longer cycles, which makes shifting earlier harder for them.7 Natural light helps here: when 8 adults spent a summer week camping with only natural light, the later sleepers moved their clocks the most.25

Your age plays a part too, though not always the way people expect. In a lab study that shifted the schedules of 6 young men and 8 middle-aged men 6 hours earlier, the middle-aged men woke more during sleep and felt less alert for the first 4 days, even though their clocks moved at the same rate.26 In a study of 85 travelers flying from the U.K. to Australia, though, older age went with less jet lag and fatigue.27

How long does jet lag last?

Count the time zones you crossed and you have a rough answer. At those rates, crossing six time zones east, say from New York to Paris, takes about 6 days to settle fully, and the same trip home takes about 4.7

Melatonin can shorten that recovery: in the New Zealand trial, travelers on placebo needed 4.15 days to get back to normal sleep and 4.7 days to get their energy back after the long-haul flights, against 2.85 and 3.25 days on melatonin.23 There's no instant cure for jet lag, but the steps below help your body catch up faster.

How to prevent jet lag before you fly

Shift your sleep before you go

You can arrive with your clock already partway adjusted. In a lab study of 28 healthy young adults preparing for a simulated eastward trip, everyone went to bed and got up 1 hour earlier each day for 3 days, and the only difference was the light during the first 3.5 hours after waking. With ordinary dim indoor light, their body clocks moved 0.6 hours earlier; with bright light on and off, 1.5 hours; and with steady bright light, 2.1 hours, with only small side effects.6

One hour a day is enough, and pushing harder doesn't buy you more: when the same research group compared shifting sleep by 1 hour or 2 hours a day for 3 days in 26 young adults, the clocks moved about the same, 1.5 and 1.8 hours on average, and the 2-hour group had trouble falling asleep by the third night.28 The American Academy of Sleep Medicine notes that morning bright light plus going to bed an hour earlier for 3 days before an eastward trip may lessen symptoms.29 Outdoor daylight runs about 10,000 to 100,000 lux, brighter than the light boxes in those studies, so getting outside in the morning, for as long as your schedule allows, is the best light source of all.7

For a westward trip, do the opposite: stay up and sleep a little later for a few days, and get your bright light in the evening.7 And if you're away for 2 days or less, you may do better to stay on home time as much as you can, which the same guidelines say can reduce sleepiness.29

Sleep on the plane when it's night where you're going

On an overnight flight east, the plane is your first night, so sleep there counts. When we flew straight from Nashville to London, we left around 9:30 at night and landed around 10:30 the next morning, London time, so I took melatonin, wore an eye mask and did my best to sleep on the plane, because even a few hours helps.9 When I travel, I also pack my own small pillow, which helps tremendously.9

Flight timing makes a big difference too: in a study of 85 athletes, coaches and academics flying from the U.K. to Australia, those who left in the evening slept a median of 5.5 hours on the first flight, against 1.5 hours for those who left in the morning.27 When you can, choose a flight that leaves in the evening, so the plane becomes your first night, and skip the in-flight wine, since alcohol breaks up the second half of your sleep, as the remedies below explain.30

Sleep on the road matters for more than jet lag. Early in my career, when I was running my functional medicine practice and traveling to speak at seminars and conferences, I noticed the only time I got sick was when I was traveling and getting less sleep.9

Drink water and stay ahead of the dry cabin air

Cabin air on long flights is remarkably dry: on intercontinental flights between Stockholm and Chicago, relative humidity ran just 10% to 12%. When researchers humidified the cabin on one leg and not the other, in random order, 71 air crew had steadier tear film and clearer noses, and fewer eye, nose and skin symptoms and headaches.12 You can't humidify the plane, but you can drink water steadily, with plenty early in the day and less in the last 2 hours before bed.3 Our guide on how to stay hydrated has more ideas.

How to get over jet lag: natural remedies that work

My travel plan in the Deep Sleep Protocol is simple: get morning light at your destination, keep your wake time, and use short-term melatonin for big time-zone shifts.3 For me, the best things for jet lag are melatonin, a really good workout, eating well and a good night's sleep, and I think probiotics and B vitamins help too.9 The remedies below start with the signals your clock reads most strongly.

What I pack for a long trip

My travel kit covers the things a trip tends to drain. I bring probiotics, a methylated B complex and turmeric to keep inflammation low, and I pack magnesium glycinate, about 300 milligrams before bed, which helps with bowel movements and with sleep.9 If stress keeps you up on a trip, my sleep protocol uses ashwagandha root extract, 300 mg twice a day.3 Vitamin C and collagen are easy to add for general health while you're away, and an electrolyte drink is worth packing for a hot climate.

Ginger earns a place for the queasy stomach that sometimes comes with travel. In a placebo-controlled trial of 80 naval cadets in heavy seas, 1 gram of powdered ginger root cut vomiting and cold sweats, and the researchers rated its protection against vomiting at 72% on their index, though the drop in nausea itself wasn't significant.41 In a lab study of 13 people prone to motion sickness, where each person tried ginger and a placebo, ginger at 1,000 and 2,000 mg eased nausea and steadied the stomach's own rhythm.42 Our ginger guide suggests taking it 30 to 60 minutes before you travel or eat, and a strong cup of fresh ginger tea is the simplest way.

Your jet lag plan by direction of travel

Your jet lag plan, by direction

For a trip of 2 days or less, stay on home time where you can.29

Jet lag medications a doctor may prescribe

Some travelers ask a doctor for a prescription, and three kinds of drugs are used for jet lag. Zolpidem is a sleeping pill. In a trial of 137 people flying between Switzerland and the Americas across six to nine time zones, melatonin 5 mg, zolpidem 10 mg, both together and a placebo were compared, and every active treatment reduced jet lag. Zolpidem was rated the most effective, especially for sleep on the night flight, but zolpidem and the combination were less well tolerated than melatonin alone.43

Armodafinil is a wakefulness drug. In a trial of 427 adults with a history of jet lag flying from the U.S. to France, 150 mg a day kept people more awake on a daytime sleep test, with an average of 11.7 minutes to fall asleep against 4.8 minutes on placebo, and improved their overall rating of jet lag, 1.6 against 1.9 on placebo, with headache in 27% and nausea in 13%.44 Antihistamine sleep aids such as diphenhydramine are sometimes used too, and practice guidelines list sleeping pills for jet lag insomnia and stimulants for alertness only as options, with risks to weigh.29

My protocol resets the clock first, and if you still have challenges, a sleep medication is something your doctor may prescribe for a short time.3

When jet lag needs more than time, and how to use these remedies safely

Melatonin. Take it in the evening on local time, because a dose early in the day can make you sleepy and slow your adjustment.17 Case reports suggest people with epilepsy and people taking warfarin may come to harm from melatonin, so if either applies to you, ask the doctor who manages it first.17 Skip it during pregnancy or breastfeeding, and don't give it to children, unless their doctor agrees. Labels are often off: in a lab analysis of 31 supplements, melatonin content ran from 83% below to 478% above the label,45 and of 25 U.S. gummy products, one had no detectable melatonin and the rest ran from 74% to 347% of the label, with 22 of the 25 mislabeled,46 so choose a third-party-tested product.

Sleeping pills on a plane. If a doctor prescribes one, know that zolpidem brought nausea, vomiting, amnesia and sleepwalking in some travelers,43 and sleeping through a long flight also means hours without moving.

Long flights and blood clots. In a study of 8,755 employees of international organizations, the risk of a blood clot in a vein ran about three times higher in the weeks after a flight of 4 hours or more, about one clot for every 4,656 long-haul flights, and it was highest in the first 2 weeks. The risk rose with longer and more frequent flights and was particularly high in people under 30, women taking oral contraceptives, and very short, tall or overweight travelers.47 Walk the aisle when you can, flex your calves often and keep drinking water. Calf pain or swelling, chest pain or sudden shortness of breath after a flight needs urgent medical care.

Herbs and supplements. If you take a blood thinner, keep ginger to food amounts, such as a cup of tea. With kidney disease, let your doctor set any magnesium dose. Skip ashwagandha during pregnancy or with an overactive thyroid; rare liver reactions have also been reported.48

When it isn't jet lag. Symptoms that don't ease as the days go by, a fever after travel, or severe vomiting or diarrhea point to something other than jet lag and deserve a visit to your doctor.

The bottom line

Jet lag: frequently asked questions

References

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3. Axe J. The Deep Sleep Protocol: The 30-Day Healing Protocol. DrAxe.com protocol, 2026: p. 3 (a rhythm problem; sleep runs on a clock, and clocks can be reset), p. 8 (caffeine six hours before bed cut more than an hour of sleep in a controlled study; alcohol breaks up the second half of the night), p. 10 (Chinese medicine: the organ clock and the restless Shen), p. 12 (a fixed wake time is the anchor), p. 15 (the order he uses with patients), p. 16 (Phase 1: a fixed wake time and morning light are the two strongest signals; 10 minutes of outdoor light within 30 minutes of waking, no sunglasses; caffeine only before noon, one or two cups after breakfast; naps under 20 minutes and not after 3 p.m.; 30 g of protein at breakfast), p. 18 (Phase 3: dinner protein and carb three hours before bed; ashwagandha root extract 300 mg twice daily; melatonin 0.3 to 1 mg, 1 to 2 hours before bed), p. 19 (Phase 4: the travel plan; regular meal times, three a day; plenty of water early, less in the last 2 hours; after a late night, get up at the usual time; a plan for travel, stress and late nights), p. 20 (melatonin, low dose, 0.3 to 1 mg, short-term; less is more) and p. 26 (melatonin as a timing signal; a sleep medication your doctor may prescribe for a short time).
4. Axe J. 7 Science-Backed Ways to Lower Your Cortisol Fast. The Dr. Josh Axe Show, 2026 (published September 21, 2026), at 12:51 to 13:58 (outdoor light even when it's cloudy; about 15 minutes outside first thing in the morning wakes up the cortisol curve; his vacation outdoors; a 10 to 20 minute walk with no sunglasses and no phone).
5. Axe J. Top 10 Worst Health Trends (That Everyone Thinks Are Healthy). The Dr. Josh Axe Show, 2026 (published June 8, 2026), at 17:39 to 18:15 (a low dose of 0.3 to a maximum of 1 mg; melatonin for jet lag, one or two nights with international travel).
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21. Genesis 1:14. The Holy Bible, King James Version.
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40. Axe J. 10 Biblical Superfoods That Can Add Years to Your Life. The Dr. Josh Axe Show, Episode 393. September 28, 2026. Red-meat studies and grain-fed meat at 21:03 to 21:16.
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Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DNM, CNS

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Dr. Axe is a certified doctor of natural medicine, clinical nutritionist, and multiple New York Times bestselling author. He has spent 20+ years in clinical practice helping people heal at the root cause and founded one of the most-visited natural-health platforms in the world.

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