Noting Matt’s frequent travels around the world, a reader asks if he has any helpful hints for avoiding jet lag.
Matt responds:
I have trained myself over the years that if I can get my feet to the same level as my head, I can sleep on the softest bed in the world or a bed of nails. When I was growing up, 99 out of 100 times I slept on a couch. To this day, if I can’t sleep, I might leave a luxurious bed and sleep on the couch. Using that as my barometer, whenever I get on a plane or in a car or whatever, I make it a point to see if I can get my feet the same height as my head, and I go to sleep.
If I’m on a long daytime flight, it intrigues me to see the earth out the window and watch the changes of the foliage and rivers and snow. It gives me a bird’s eye view of the world, which is a learning experience. Whenever Rose and I arrive in a given location, if we’re arriving early in the morning, we have to consider the fact that in most hotels you can’t check in till 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Generally I have whoever makes my reservation plead with the hotel that I’m an old geezer who should be let in early.
Getting to bed immediately when I arrive is important, because it sets the tone for how I’m going to react. When I was doing my huge tours, for example, in Mendoza, Argentina, I built in a day before in Buenos Aires and a day after, to let my body become accustomed to whatever the time difference was. For me, rest and getting into the mood of the culture are the most important things, because once I start the process, I might be talking to three or four groups of people in a single day, having breakfast, lunch, and dinner at all different times, according to the customs of the country you’re in. In my own home I have dinner at 5 or 6, but in Spain, you don’t start eating till 10 or 11.
I try to prepare my body with exercise and vitamins. If I’m traveling by car, I have a down comforter and a pillow, and I fall immediately asleep when my head touches them. Very rarely do I go on a boat, because I hate to be on something I can’t get off of. So I don’t consider a cruise to be a luxurious mode of transportation, even though they feed you like it’s the Last Supper...
The question I always ask myself is: Where am I going, what am I expected to do, and how can I lie down? Never stand when you can sit; never sit when you can lie—that seems to be my program: Be ready to say whatever I have to say; sit down, meditate, and let the world go by. That’s probably my secret weapon.
It was probably even better when I was half in the tank and didn’t give a damn. Now I’m constantly looking for some clean water and ice. At least now I know what I said the night before, and who I said it to—and that’s a victory!
Matt