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White Papers from the Gold Coast Institute Fellows |
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1,436
words Speaking
and Jet Lag Giving
a 100% performance in a distant venue Dan
Poynter, CSP, D-454. Gold
Coast Institute Fellow
When
you are suffering from jet lag, your mental and physical reflexes are
slower. Professional speakers want every presentation to be a 100%
performance. We would like to do our best and audiences deserve to get
what they are paying for. Any performance less than 100% is unacceptable
to the true professional. Some
years ago, I was Chief of Delegation for the U.S. Parachute Team. We
flew from California to Warrendorf in Northern Germany (9 time zones)
and went into World Championship competition the next day. The first
round was a disaster for the U.S.; the eight-person team was sluggish
and disoriented as they performed their aerial maneuvers. Teams are
supposed to complete a formation and then transition to several more
while plummeting at 120 mph. The aerial maneuvers are evaluated and
timed by judges with high-powered binocular devices. The competitors
blamed their poor performance on unexpected aircraft configuration; the
door was on the opposite side from what they were used to. The next jump
was not much better. The Championships dragged on for more than a week
due to poor weather. The U.S. Team performed a little better each day;
squeaking into Gold Medals on the tenth and final round of competition. The
next World Meet was in Gatton, Queensland, Australia (7 time zones. More
miles but fewer time zones). I had read that NASA estimates it takes
about one day to regain normal rhythm and
energy levels for each time zone crossed. I persuaded the Board
of Directors to send the team to Australia three weeks prior to the
Championships so they could train on site. It cost a bit more to train
outside the U.S. but training at home would amount to false-economy. On
arrival, we went to the drop zone and, of course, the team members
wanted to make a training jump. We explained the jet-lag challenge and
told them they were to be "grounded tourists" for at least a
week. Jumps were expensive; wasted jumps would be a foolish expenditure.
They begged, they sniveled and they cajoled. Finally the Team Leader
gave in and up they went. Their choreographed maneuvers were sluggish
and incomplete; they performed terribly! A wiser skydiving team spent
the next week recovering from jet lag on the beach. Some
companies have a formal policy of "no business meetings the first
day after a flight" but this guideline fails to recognize that jet
lag can last a week or more. A
professional athlete's performance is measured at every competitive
attempt. Professional speakers are like athletes to the extent that they
must perform at 100% of their abilities. An 85% or 90% performance is
not a winner. There
are two issues in jet lag. A.
The affect of travel across time-zones on your performance.
1. Resetting your body's clock to local time. B.
The affects on the body of traveling in a plane. A.
Time zones. The issue is time
zones; upsetting your clock, not distance. While
north-south travelers may suffer from air travel, these journeys do not
disturb circadian rhythms;
your body is still operating on the same eat-sleep schedule.
Bodily distress in east-west travel is due to the zones. On the other
hand, according to Diana Fairechild, author of Jet Smarter: The Air
Traveler's Rx, "Flying over the Equator can reduce our ability to
function in many ways such as coordination (physical), clear thinking
(mental), and gut feeling (emotional)". Many
people report that flying east is worse than going west. Speaking in the
UK is likely to be a greater jet-lag challenge than speaking in
Australia. What
you can do. If you have booked an
exotic distant venue and plan to extend your stay for a holiday,
vacation first and speak toward the end of your stay. Let your body
catch up as much as possible. You will also have an opportunity to get
to know the country and will pick up some informational items for
customizing your presentation. If you must speak soon after your
arrival, try to schedule the presentation during your peak at-home awake
time. Are you a morning person or night owl? To
calculate out how many time zones you will cross, see http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/ 1.
Adjusting to local time. The body
is accustomed to a regular rhythm of day and night. Light and dark
affect your biological functions (circadian rhythms), including when you
eat and sleep. Those with a fixed daily routine suffer more when their
routine is upset. What
you can do. Sleep before you
leave; commence your travels well-rested, so that you have a supply of
energy to draw upon. Research shows the more tired you are when you
travel, the more you will struggle with jet lag. Trying to catch up on
sleep while you are traveling does not always work. Even a
fully-reclining island seat in First Class is not a substitute for your
own bed. Try
to schedule takeoff near your usual bedtime. You will have a better
chance of a (nearly) full-night’s sleep. Do
not eat before sleeping just because they are serving food. Eat only if
it is at your normal mealtime. Set
your watch to destination time. Adopt the new time zone for meals and
sleep. When
you arrive, adopt local time. Sunlight will go to work on your body’s
clock. Get outside in the bright sunlight (without glasses) whenever
possible. If you are not getting enough sleep at night, take a very
short nap during the day. Sleeping
pills may induce sleep but they have no effect on re-aligning the body's
biological imbalance caused by traveling to a different time zone. Melatonin
may help decrease jet lag. It is a hormone sold in supplement form at
health food stores. Try taking 1-3 milligrams of melatonin at bedtime
for several days after you
arrive at your destination. B.
Staying healthy in a plane. Many
symptoms attributed to jet lag are actually caused by the environment of
the airplane. Some of those challenges are dry air (humidity in an
airplane is very low), low pressurization (8,000 feet), bacteria
(airborne in the recycled air) noise, vibrations, and cramped
surroundings. Symptoms may include dry eyes, irritated nose and sinuses,
earaches, headaches, muscle cramps, and bloating. Occasionally,
dizziness or swollen limbs may occur.
Sleeping
on the plane may be tougher for people on their first trip abroad
because they are too excited to sleep. What
you can do. Environment.
Use earplugs and eyeshades to shut out some of the noise and light. Hydration.
Sip water throughout the flight. Dry
membranes are more susceptible to infection. Make sure the water
is bottled. Do not drink from the aircraft's tanks. That water has been
shown to be full of obnoxious bacteria. Some frequent flyers request
carbonated water without ice to make sure of the water's origin. By
the way, the coffee is almost always made with "plane" water
not bottled water. Diet.
Generally, proteins keep you awake and carbs make you sleepy. Exercise.
See the seat-exercise instructions in the in-flight magazine. Walk
around the cabin of the plane to exercise your limbs and stretch your
muscles. Of
course, the usual warnings about smoking, overeating, alcohol and
caffeine apply Some
people swear by No Jet Lag pills, a homeopathic, available in
many health-food and travel stores. See http://www.NoJetLag.com.
The
purpose of this article is to draw attention to the fact that jet lag
affects the performance of professional speakers. A lot of detailed
jet-lag advice is available on the web. For example, see http://www.flyana.com.
Sports
people compete against each other to improve their performances. Speakers
compete with themselves to become the best they can be. Jet lag is one
(hidden) challenge. And it is a challenge that can be confronted and
minimized. --------------------------------------------------- Dan
Poynter, CSP, flies some 4,000 miles each week to speak on book and
aviation topics. See http://parapub.com/speaking
-30- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DanPoynter@ParaPublishing.com - 1-800-PARAPUB Dan
Poynter,
CSP, has
written more than 100 books including Writing
Nonfiction,
The
Skydiver's Handbook
and The
Self-Publishing Manual.
He
has been a publisher since 1969. Dan is past-chair of NSA's
Writer-Publisher PEG and the founder of the PEG newsletter. See
http://ParaPublishing.com.
© 2005
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Imagine
your frustration and embarrassment noticing your delivery is slower than
usual, slurring your words and/or forgetting where you are in your
presentation. Speakers face many challenges with venue, audiences,
meeting planners, transportation, and so on. One major and little
understood challenge is caused by crossing multiple time zones. Most
road warriors are not affected to a great degree by a two or three hour
time change; traveling across the continent. But international travel is
another matter. Research shows jet lag