Monday, April 7, 2014

Sober Day #160- Alcohol, Time Zones and Jet Lag

Home again!  And what a very fun trip.  The journey home was smooth except for an agonizing 2.5 hours in various lines at US Customs in Toronto- but even that didn't drive me to drink!  

In the past, travel- and fear of flying- was always an excuse for copious wine consumption.  This time I had none.  

I think a lot of the factors and experiences I'd assigned to 'Jet Lag' actually seem to be drinking-related instead.  We arrived home at 11 PM local time on Saturday.  I was up and energetic for my 9 AM pilates class on Sunday, in bed by 10 last night, and up at 6 AM this morning- almost back to my normal 5- 5:30 AM getting-up time.  Without agony.  Feeling fully back in this time zone and ready to resume my normal schedule.  

This is very different from how I felt after a long-haul flight when I thought I needed wine- and lots of it- to cope with fear of flying.  Then I would get home, sleep fitfully, and awaken feeling draggy and out-of-sorts.  It would typically take me  a week or so to feel fully transferred to the new time zone, as far as my internal clock was concerned.  Coming home whether traveling east or west, was the worst, because it was just back to routine, without the novelty of being in a new or different place to entertain me.  

Hmmmm.  It appears (although I probably need to do LOTS of exotic travel to check out this theory, lol) that not drinking actually makes the mechanics of shifting time zones easier- what a revelation!

7 comments:

  1. Happy you are home safe! It's funny-but whenever I would fly back in my drinking days, I used drinking myself stupid on a long flight as my excuse to drink. Period. I would blame it on being scared to fly. (I'm totally not scared of flying.) Traveling is so much easier without drinking!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's very interesting, how many of my assumptions about how the world works are requiring re-evaluation after stopping drinking!

      Delete
  2. Carrie, I loved reading about your trip. When I travelled last month, I also found that I could fly much better without wine, and I didn't have the big time zone switching hell I usually get, even with a 3 hour change. I haven't done a long haul flight yet, but your experience makes me see most of what I called jet-lag may also have been booze related. I'm glad you had a good trip and you're feeling good to be back home.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How much we are learning about how things work without alcohol! It kinda makes me wonder what other non-alcohol basic assumptions I've made that would benefit from a similar re-evaluation?

      Delete
  3. I look forward to testing your theory too :) Glad you had a great time in my home country and I hope you were made to feel welcome xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had a fabulous trip! England, to an American, is so similar in so many ways- but yet jarringly different in others. When we first arrived, we checked in at the hotel, and I asked for directions to the lift. As we were walking toward it, 16-year-old daughter looked at me strangely and said, Mom, what's a lift?

      Delete
  4. Hi Carrie! It’s good to hear that you’re doing great and staying sober. And to think that you were able to fly without having the need to drink is really amazing! Well, it’s true that jet lag can be sometimes correlated with drinking alcohol while onboard. The spirit makes your senses relax; which tends to slow down your adaptability to sudden changes. Anyway, it’s great that you took note of this certain difference. Cheers!

    Donnie Benson @ Midwest Institute

    ReplyDelete

I'd love to hear about your journey, and hear your take on my journey. Comments are very welcome!!