Reducing jetlag

[Anita5]

I'm flying to Australia next Monday. Is there anything I can do to reduce the effects of jet-lag and the time difference (11 hours)?

Thanks,

Anita

[delboy3]

Whether tired or not, go to bed at the same time as the locals. You will quickly readjust.

[weeal]

I travelled to New Zealand recently (13 hrs diff) and did not enjoy the travelling one bit! I wouldnt say I had jetlag tho at the end of it, travelling is tiring no matter what you do. The worst bit was the swelling in feet/legs due to cabin pressure.

[Buenchico]

See here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4886770.st m

and here:
http://www.britishairways.com/travel/healthjet lag/public/en_gb

Chris

[KARL]

Apologies if this duplicates info obtained through other answers: Start by going to bed and rising up to two hours earlier each day before leaving (or as early as unavoidable routines permit), then during travel and for the next days drink plenty of liquid, but no coffee, tea or alcohol. Eat healthy food throughout. This will give you the best chance of arriving in reasonable shape and getting into sync quickly. Otherwise just do it the hard way: try to ignore your body's complaints and live the times of the locals.

[Rooboru]

Hi Anita, living here in Australia has its drawbacks, one of which is you get used to suffering jet lag anytime you travel in any direction.
One of the answers from Karl gave some sound advice, plenty of water, no caffiene and try to eat just salads and fish. Most importantly try and get some sleep on the plane if there are enough spare seats. 11 hours time diff means you will be coming in from the US or Canada which means an early morning arrival into Oz.
Try and resist the temptation to go to bed and sleep when you first arrive, no matter how tired you feel, and this will pay dividends when your head finally hits the pillow after the sun goes down.
Will be watching to see if you have any more questions about this great country..

[sddsddean]

We went to Oz last year and did the following. I assume you will be leaving UK about 11pm and arriving Oz about 6am with a stopover somewhere around Bangkok. On the first leg, have the lovely airline meal (!) then try and go to sleep, as you should be tired anyway. I'm terrible at sleeping on planes and still got 5 hours sleep. I didn't manage to sleep on the 2nd leg, but if you can , all well and good. When you arrive in Oz, try to not go to bed until about 8pm local time. Hopefully, the next night you should be able to go to bed at a normal time, but if you are a bit tired, just go to bed early. It took us 2 nights to get to normal. BTW, you will feel like a zombie on arrival at Oz. Also, if you can afford it, I highly recommend upgrading just one class to try and get a more comfy seat. If you can check in online, do this and try and get a seat behind a bulkhead. You will normally have a bit more legroom, but will definately not have someone reclining their seat into your face!

[jno]

probably too late to help, but flying west with the sun always seems to be better than east against it. Don't place too much faith in bulkhead seats: last time I got one, I was turfed out once I'd sat down because a woman with a baby needed it as it's the only place where there's room for cots. Have a look on seatguru.com - it may help you figure out where the best seats on your flight are, which is helpful if you have the option of checking in online.

[Rooboru]

Apologies Anita, The summer heat has got to me with the time diff and all. Perth is GMT+8 hrs Adelaide +9.5 and the East coast +10 add on the 1 hour daylight saving and there is your 11 hours. So I guess you will be coming from the UK. Sorry cobber!
Have a safe trip and don't forget to bring a hat and your sunscreen. Regardless where you finish up sitting in the plane, have a bloody good holiday and enjoy yourself.....