Minimizing Jet Lag

In my humble opinion, there's nothing new to say about how to minimize the effects of Jet Lag—sleep on the plane (if you're one of the lucky few who can), take melatonin at your new bedtime, and start eating & sleeping on the new time zone ASAP.  (And frankly, the only thing that works for me is a First Class lie-flat seat and time—one day for each hour I'm crossing.) But while reporting this month's column for Endless Vacation, I did learn that melatonin is not available over-the-counter in countries such as Germany. Also, my doubts about the controlled-release version of Ambien (Ambien CR) were confirmed by Dr. Teitelbaum, who says many of his patients have found it to be mildly addictive. (It's a much higher dose than regular ambien—12.5 mg. versus 5 or 10 mg.)