Everyone has ideas on how to beat jet lag, and they’re all correct, at least for themselves. As someone who is on a plane every few weeks, I’ve tried several different solutions, including once getting intoxicated before a trans-Atlantic flight. That was a big mistake! I didn’t sleep, and I arrived with a migraine. It was when I followed my regular sleep routine that I finally conquered jet lag.

I sleep about 6-7 hours every night with a 45 minute nap in the afternoon. My Grandma told me she used to wake up at three in the morning and read when she couldn’t fall back to sleep. She shared that she just gets up when she’s awake and goes to sleep when she’s tired. How ingenious, and I’ve followed her advice ever since.

When it comes to flying, of course it throws off your circadian rhythm. While it does acclimate to your new environment in a few days, that’s about the time you’re headed home. I’ve found that regardless of how I slept on my flight, the best way to beat jet lag is to take a nap. I usually nap sometime between 2-5 in the afternoon and never for more than an hour. That part is very important! No matter how groggy you are after your nap, force yourself to get up. You can go back to sleep in a few hours, and you’ll sleep even harder.

When I arrive at my destination, I force myself to stay awake until at least 9pm, even better if you can make it to 10. If I wake up in the middle of the night, I may read for an hour since that is a routine that my body associates with bedtime. Typically, I can force my body to sleep until 4 or 5 in the morning, which is the time I get up normally anyway. Knowing I have a nap waiting for me in less than 12 hours, it’s not difficult to get up. So far this method has worked brilliantly for me, and I am usually on schedule in my new destination within 24 hours.

There are other things you can do to help. As much as possible, I try to schedule flights that arrive in the late afternoon or evening. That way, no matter how little sleep you get on your flight, you don’t have to stay up long when you arrive at your destination. Again, the later you can stay up, the better. Your body will be even more ready for sleep.

Another one of my favorites for beating jet lag is to fly first class. Nothing beats a United Polaris fully reclining bed seat. I can only sleep face down so a bed seat is the only way to get any reasonable sleep inflight. Of course, these seats can be very expensive, but on occasion, I’ll get lucky. I always purchase my international flights using miles. A couple of weeks before the flight, I begin checking the airline website to see if there are upgrade offers. I’ve gotten an international first class seat for as low as $800, and since I didn’t pay for the flight, that was my total cost.

The most interesting tool I’ve seen for beating jet lag is an app called TimeShifter. It helps you avoid jet lag by telling you how to adjust your sleep patterns around your flight date. Though it was too much work for me, it is a creative solution and probably fun to try if you’re someone who just cannot nap.