Jet lag, that exhausting feeling of fatigue, disorientation, and general malaise that often accompanies long-distance travel, can put a damper on even the most exciting trips. The sudden shift in time zones disrupts our body’s internal clock, leaving us feeling out of sync and struggling to adjust to the new local time.
Gentle Wakeup is a user-friendly app with an alarm clock to prevent jet lag by gradually adjusting your body to the new time zone even before you step foot on the plane. Instead of facing a sudden time zone change, the app takes a gentle and methodical approach, allowing your body to adapt at its own pace. Each day leading up to your trip, the app gradually shifts your alarm time by one hour, aligning it with the new local time. This gradual adjustment helps your internal clock sync with the destination time zone, reducing the impact of jet lag.
In case you do not have the app yet you can download it from here:
Setting up the Gentle Jetlag App
Setting up a Gentle Jetlag App is very simple in the app. When you add a new alarm clock in the app, you can choose your alarm time from a list of different alarm clock types. Scroll down and select “Gentle Jetlag”. The app needs to know the time zone of your destination and the arrival date. You can have it automatically determine it or enter a city name.
The app will shift the wake-up time every day a bit to adjust to the destination time zone until your arrival date is reached. Just set the wake-up time for the arrival date and let the app calculate the number of days to shift the alarm or the number of minutes to shift for each day. Try to stick to the new circadian rhythm as much as possible. Shift your work hours if needed, or sleep in two phases if appointments can not be shifted.
Waking up to light resets your circadian rhythm
Now that you have set your alarm for time shifts, it may start very early in the morning. For many people, it can be a big challenge to wake up at this time and get out of bed without feeling dizzy. But with the help of the app, you can wake up very gently and even feel as refreshed as when you wake up at your normal time. The app uses slowly rising light to simulate a natural sunrise. Even with your eyes closed, your brain will notice this, bringing you out of deep sleep and preparing your body to wake up.
The chirping of birds will sound as well with slowly increasing volume at wake-up time.
Wake-up times and sleep timers
Tap on wake-up times to see a list of shifted start times for the corresponding days. Plan your week according to the shifted daytime. The list also included sleep times. The app assumes a default sleep time of 8 hours, but you can change this value if needed. When the sleeping time is reached the app starts a sleep timer with a sunset which increases slowly in brightness. The sound of a night owl is played in the background. This is the right time to go to bed and get yourself calm for sleeping.
Continue reading: How to wake up more refreshed in the morning with the app “Gentle Wakeup”
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The jet lag feature is also available in the separate app “Gentle Jetlag“