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It`s 6:00 a.m in New York and you feel like it is 6:00 p.m. It`s 3:00 a.m and you`re wide-awake. It`s 9:30 a.m. and you`re fast asleep. Your head feels like a tonne of bricks, your eyes are bleary, you`re all disoriented. What`s happening?

It`s that little thing called jet lag.

It`s never fun to be jet lagged. Your body clock is out of synch with local times. So, what can you do to ease the stress and strain of jet lag?

• Well, for a start, reset your watch. This will help you manage the mental transition (if not the physical one) to the new time zone.

• Try and ease your body into the new time zone. For example, if you are travelling during the day, keep awake on the aircraft (and make sure those in-flight films and documentaries don`t put you to sleep). If it is nighttime, put on your eye mask, pull on some earplugs, switch on some soothing music and give your neighbour a long kiss goodnight.

• Try to immediately acclimatise to the time zone of your final destination. Desist from going to sleep because it`s 11:00 p.m according to your body, even though there`s bright sunshine pouring in, courtesy the beautiful afternoon sun. Force yourself to keep awake. Wander around the city, take in some local flavour, tan yourself, taste some local delicacies.....

• Talking about food, one very good tip to beat jetlag, is to eat at local mealtimes. This will save you the bother of having to fend for your starving stomach at 4:00 a.m. Also, it`ll help your body adjust quicker to the time difference.

• All this should see you through the jet lag and time difference. No longer need you lag behind.