Recovery and prep: a bio-hacker’s guide to frequent flying

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Shift your time zone

When: A few days before departure
Your body’s circadian rhythm is its internal clock and tends to be marked by the natural fluctuation of three chemicals in the body. These are adenosine (think of this as sleep pressure, which naturally builds throughout the day), melatonin (signalling to your body it’s time to wind down) and cortisol (which promotes alertness first thing and then tapers throughout the day). By understanding how these three work, you can manipulate them to your advantage and start easing on to the time zone you’re heading to, to help smooth the transition from the one you’re in. I recommend and use apps such as Timeshifter with clients to help them plot this out ahead of any given trip.

Use strategic light exposure

When: Before and after travel
Light is possibly the single most powerful tool for shifting the body clock. If you need to stay awake longer, both blue light exposure (from screens, or blue light therapy glasses) and caffeine can block your adenosine and melatonin. If I have a jet-lagged client, we’ll often run on the treadmill with blue light glasses on, which helps extend their energy for longer in the day. If you need to sleep earlier, try wearing sunglasses a few hours before you need to doze off and dim the lights. If you’re really struggling to sleep, I would recommend researching and taking a magnesium glycinate supplement an hour before bed. And as soon as you need to wake up, flood in as much light as you can – natural or artificial, to reset your rhythm. Even better, go outside for it.

Fuel your body with anti-inflammatory nutrients

When: Before, during and after travel
Flying increases inflammation, making you more prone to fatigue and swelling. Dosing yourself up on anti-inflammatories before the flight will help. I’d tell clients to increase their Omega-3 (high-quality fish oils have strong anti-inflammatory properties) and remind them to drink electrolytes to combat the dehydrating power of flight, especially before take-off. To help combat the stress of travelling, consider Rhodiola rosea or ashwagandha to support the nervous system and avoid alcohol and excessive caffeine (unless you’re purposefully using caffeine to block adenosine for time-zone-shifting purposes), as both of these massively dehydrate you. As for water – this is a must at all stages of travel. On the flight, most cabin crew recommend drinking at least a litre of water per every four to five hours of flight time.

Fast ahead of the time zone change

When: During your flight
Eating at the wrong time can confuse your body, especially if you’re having breakfast when your body should – as per your previous time zone – be winding down. Expending energy on digestion is giving your body one more thing to think about. To combat this, a lot of the research on fasting suggests that not eating in those hours before arriving in your new time zone might help you adjust that bit quicker. By giving your gut a break during flight and not sending your body mixed messages, you will also end up deferring your first meal to a time that makes sense for your new time zone, thus signalling to your brain that you’ve arrived and supporting faster adjustment.

Keep the circulation flowing

When: During your flight
Sitting for hours slows the circulation, leading to swelling, stiffness and sluggish recovery. I recommend that my clients walk and stretch as much as possible while at 35,000ft and that they use compression socks to prevent swelling. Perfect for frequent flyers, our studio has a pair of state-of-the-art compression therapy socks: giant, pulsating socks that go all the way up the thigh and squeeze your legs to deliver up to 200 mmHg of pressure to maximise blood flow, circulation and muscle recovery. These are perfect after a long-haul trip to get your muscles back in decent, pre-flight shape.

Use breathwork

When: During your flight
Since flying (and the wider travel experience) can be a cortisol-spiking stressor on the body, it’s important to try and help yours to resist going into automatic fight or flight mode. Breathwork can, helpfully, activate the parasympathetic nervous system, helping you stay relaxed and keeping your body on top, regulated form. Try the 4-7-8 breathing method: inhale for four seconds, hold for seven, exhale for eight – and repeat. For extra stress relief, use noise-cancelling headphones and listen to guided meditations or music in the range of 432Hz to 528Hz, which can shift the body into a restful state.

Head to the infrared sauna

When: The days following travel
Infrared saunas and cold therapy are so beneficial when it comes to flushing out toxins and speeding up recovery post-flight. I recommend my clients have 30 minutes in our in-house infrared sauna, which plays a soothing, meditative soundtrack for the ultimate healing hit. Combining this with alternating trips into our cold shower makes for a powerful bio hack for recovery – you’re boosting circulation (much like with the compression socks) thanks to the heat expansion and rapid cold constriction of your blood vessels, and it reduces inflammation and muscle soreness, too.

Make your routine easier

When: The days following travel
Jet lag recovery isn’t just about sleep. It can encompass all elements of your body’s internal rhythms. It’s things such as a protein-rich breakfast to help you sustain energy levels throughout the day, as well as consistent sleep and wake times to help reregulate the body once you’re back on the ground (keep this in mind on weekends, which can often give us ‘social jet lag’ come Mondays following all the sleep debt we accrue on Saturday and Sunday). Another thing to consider that we offer here at the studio is a healthy meal delivery service, which you can tailor exactly to your schedule and be delivered only when you need it. It’s an easy way to help you resist making poor food choices when exhausted.