Tag Archives: jet lag

Jet lag

I’m beginning to think that this getting older thing is real. Last year when the time changed, it took me several days to re-adjust. At the time, I put it down to work stresses.

We came back from the Eastern time zone last Wednesday. Today is Saturday, ten days later. This morning is the first time I’ve felt like I’ve gotten decent sleep that is aligned with the sun.

It’s weird; both times the symptoms weren’t overt. I wasn’t getting up exactly three (or one) hours earlier, etc. It was more like being generally unsettled. This time, it was complicated by the fact that I didn’t have to go to work every day. Laying in bed in the morning – or going to bed early – was an option that I took advantage of.

Come to think of it, maybe that’s why it took longer. Hmmmm . . . .

So, I am retired now. I did go into Davies Hall one time to help with some transition issues but mostly my schedule is completely open. We had some doctor appointments; we got the car serviced, but this is the new normal.

The trip was great. We went to Toronto and Montreal and visited Sepi’s sister’s family. Jet lag issues on the front end were relatively minor. I attributed our fatigue more to the fact that we came out on a red-eye. But, we also were thrown into doing things! I’ll have to remember that.

I’ll do a write up in a separate post. I have the time now!

jet lag

. . . exists. I know, I’m feeling it. My two weeks in Germany were fantastic, but good sleep was rare for me. I think I was just rounding into shape for the Continent when I had to come back. I hope it doesn’t take two weeks to return to form here.

Yesterday, our airplane left Frankfurt at about 5:30 pm local time for a 10 hour non-stop flight to SFO. I was able to get a couple of hours of sleep – maybe three if you count tiny catnaps. I got into my bed at almost exactly 9 pm local time and fell asleep pretty quickly.

That’s the good news. At 12:30, I woke and couldn’t get back to sleep. At 2:30 I got up and had a cup of chamomile tea and some toast. Back in bed, I read for a bit and got to sleep again about 3 :30. I woke again at 5:30 and had the certainty that I was done with sleep for a while. A cup of Darjeeling and some food and I’ve been puttering around since. I emptied out my suitcase and sorted the many papers, post cards, beer coasters, cathedral and museum pamphlets that I brought back. Also hotel and restaurant bills, which I entered into my Quicken records. Then to the grocery store and now doing laundry at 12:30 pm, I’m starting to feel tired.

I agreed to work a rehearsal tonight so I really need to have a nap. Tschüss!