Feeling the jet lag blues
I arrived back from Singapore a little after 9am yesterday morning and it feels like I've been fighting my own body and mind ever since!
As a frequent visitor to Asia, I thought I was well used to jet lag and all the many ways it can make life miserable. On arriving in Singapore, the onset of symptoms was delayed by 24 hours - no idea why - which left me with crippling insomnia two days into my holiday. Fun times!
Yesterday, I battled to stay awake all afternoon - even resorting to doing some laundry to keep me active - and managed to keep out of bed util 8:30pm. Cue 3:00am this morning and I was wide awake.
And yet not.
I feel like I'm inhabiting someone else's body and have made more mistakes since getting out of bed than any day in living memory. Bumping into things, dropping things, forgetting why I came into the room. It's like a preview of my retirement years!
Believe me, I understand what's happening to me. The topic is one I cover in any number of courses I run for clients when it comes to wellbeing and sleep. I'm fighting one of the core biological processes in my body, one that has an impact on almost every aspect of my being. And all I can do is attempt to ease the transition to UK time, rather than hope for an abrupt reset of my body clock.
I've been keeping busy, doing work admin, checking my packing list (again!) and planning the remainder of my work week. And while I'd like to have a quiet one today, my schedule doesn't allow it.
I'm back at an airport again this morning! Flying to Dublin for an overnight work trip. I'm hoping the stuff I need to do and people I need to see will keep me going until a decent time this evening. Then, hopefully, a good night's sleep and I can manage to run a workshop the following morning. We shall wee.
In the interim, it's a battle between me, my time zone and my circadian rhythms. And I think we all know who has the upper hand here!