I don’t do well on limited amounts of sleep. It’s just not my strength.

And when I travel, I like to hit the ground running. This is particularly true on long-haul itineraries that cross the 24 hour mark.

In the past few years, I have drafted a fairly effective anti-jet lag strategy. It involves time-shifting yourself before the trip. I assume an 8 hour sleep cycle. Here’s an example for an 8 hour time offset:

                         sleep   wake    offset
                         -----   ----    ------
 Day 1       Local sleep   8PM - 4AM     -8 hours
        Destination time   4AM - 12PM    
 Day 2       Local sleep   6PM - 2AM     -6 hours
        Destination time   2AM - 10AM
 Day 3       Local sleep   4PM - 12AM    -4 hours
        Destination time  12AM - 8AM
 Day 4       Local sleep   4PM - 10PM (depart at midnight)
        Destination time  10PM - 6AM

I’ve found that this strategy works well for time offsets less than or equal to 10 hours when traveling east. Optimally, four days should probably be allowed to recover — the first day of the series is typically a long one. In a crunch, two days — with the time offset divided in half — would give a great headstart to adjusting to the time zone at your destination.

Caveat emptor: This probably isn’t a realistic solution for those with normal work hours, children, or hobbies!