Adjusting To A New Sleeping Schedule

I have never had any trouble sleeping, whether it was at home, or visiting some place new or even in the car. Usually when I fall a sleep at night, the next time I wake up is when my alarm is going off — I have been fortunate enough to not have the need to get up for water or bathroom break at night and sleep comfortably enough to not wrestle myself awake.

Additionally if you were to talk those closest to me, they would tell you that I can sleep on command which is often very helpful when I am traveling. When I used to work in Canada and would travel back and forth to New Jersey every month or so, I would often fall asleep on the plane before take off and be jolted awake when the wheels of the plane hit the ground upon landing.

My typical routine within the last year or so was getting five to six hours to sleep at home coupled with power naps on the train (each way) while on my 90 minute commute to/from work. So when I was moving half way around the world, I didn’t think that adjustment to a new timezone would have much of an impact on my sleeping schedule.

My travel time to work is a bit shorter here with no room to sleep while commuting but in theory, if I go to bed at roughly the same time, I should be getting more time to sleep. However, three weeks into this assignment, I still find myself waking up at odd times during the night and still not getting a complete night’s sleep on a consistent basis.

Typically I don’t need a lot of sleep but I do need the consistency and am hoping to get that sorted out pretty quickly. As for those of you international travelers that might be reading this, any suggestions?