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Andrew Herr spent years advising Navy SEALs, elite athletes, and Fortune 500 executives on the way to maximize performance underneath stress. From the battlefield to the boardroom, one downside saved arising. “Journey wrecks me,” his purchasers instructed him.
And so they weren’t exaggerating. In line with business knowledge, 93% of long‑haul travelers report experiencing fatigue, malaise, and impaired focus from jet lag.
That frustration led Herr to create Flykitt, a system designed to eradicate jet lag and assist vacationers keep targeted and practical. It is now utilized by skilled athletes, executives, and anybody who’s bored with arriving in a brand new metropolis worn out earlier than the work even begins.
Herr just lately joined me on the One Day with Jon Bier podcast to clarify the true cause for the lag in jet journey—and why the standard fixes not often work.
The issue begins with cabin stress
Jet lag is not nearly adjusting to new time zones. It begins earlier than you even land.
“While you’re flying, you are normally going to about 8,000 ft of relative air stress,” Herr explains. “That drop in stress and the decrease oxygen stage trigger irritation, which lowers your vitality ranges, disrupts sleep, messes together with your joints, causes nervousness, and stops your circadian rhythm from resetting.”
That is why you are feeling so foggy and stiff after sitting on a airplane, even when you did not fly in a single day. “It isn’t simply the dry air,” he provides. “Flying causes your physique to combat itself.”
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Sleeping the entire flight is not sufficient
Vacationers typically suppose that so long as they sleep through the flight, they will rally as soon as they land. However even past the irritation, Herr warns that mistimed sleep–and even an excessive amount of–can go away you simply as jet-lagged. For instance, when you sleep on the flawed time or an excessive amount of, you will not go to sleep the subsequent night time, and then you definitely’re in bother. To really feel nice, it is about syncing your relaxation timing to work together with your physique’s inside clock.
Within the Flykitt jet lag app, the algorithm calculates the best window to go to sleep, primarily based in your flights, your arrival time, and your physique’s rhythms, all personalised to you. “We information you on optimum sleep timing and dietary supplements to dam the irritation and get you to sleep the precise correct quantity on the airplane,” Herr explains. “That helps you regulate easily to the brand new time zone once you land.”
The purpose is not simply to get relaxation. It is about recalibrating your physique to adapt from the place you’ve got been to the place you are going.
Caffeine is not the answer
Many vacationers depend on espresso and different caffeinated drinks all through the day to get them by however Herr says this may be the flawed tactic. When your physique is infected and your sleep-wake cycle is out of whack, loads of caffeine can amplify the issue. “It’d even make it worse when you’re already infected or anxious,” he says. So, Flykitt features a particular circadian reset combine that features simply the correct amount of espresso to optimize how you are feeling with out overdoing it.
Flykitt will even roll out what Herr calls a “focus module”—a structured set of instruments designed to help psychological readability and vitality. It would mix brief breathwork workout routines, stress aid strategies, and brain-supporting dietary supplements to assist your system rebound naturally.
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Restoration can take longer than you suppose
Jet lag does not hit all of sudden, and it does not resolve itself after one night time of sleep.
“What folks discover is, even after they get to the brand new location, they nonetheless really feel off,” Herr says. “They don’t seem to be sleeping effectively, they don’t seem to be digesting correctly, they really feel mind fog, and their temper’s off.”
Many vacationers assume the physique will naturally bounce again the subsequent day. However Herr says that false impression results in extra issues. “Most individuals wait till they really feel horrible to take motion,” he says.
His recommendation: Do not wait till you are wrecked. Do the work upfront and keep away from the crash. Flykitt’s restoration protocol begins the morning you allow and continues for 36 hours after touchdown.
Jet lag will not be inevitable
Most vacationers settle for jet lag as simply a part of the deal. You fly lengthy hours, you are feeling terrible for a couple of days, you energy by. However Herr says it does not must be that means.
“We’re discovering folks in a spot the place their complete routine is disrupted, so that they’re used to feeling horrible,” he says. “And once they really feel the affect of what utilizing the suitable instruments on the proper time can do for sleeping higher, consuming higher, and managing stress, it clicks.”
Flykitt’s method is constructed round that second of readability—when folks notice they do not must lose days of productiveness or enjoyment simply because they crossed a couple of time zones.
“You may battle by it,” Herr says. “However why would you when you do not have to?”
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Andrew Herr spent years advising Navy SEALs, elite athletes, and Fortune 500 executives on the way to maximize performance underneath stress. From the battlefield to the boardroom, one downside saved arising. “Journey wrecks me,” his purchasers instructed him.
And so they weren’t exaggerating. In line with business knowledge, 93% of long‑haul travelers report experiencing fatigue, malaise, and impaired focus from jet lag.
That frustration led Herr to create Flykitt, a system designed to eradicate jet lag and assist vacationers keep targeted and practical. It is now utilized by skilled athletes, executives, and anybody who’s bored with arriving in a brand new metropolis worn out earlier than the work even begins.
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