“The best way to beat jet lag is with No Jet Lag homeopathic pills," says one traveler. "I start taking them a day before I fly.” (“No Jet Lag” is the actual brand name. Find more info here. )

Another traveler goes straight to big pharma: “I take Nyquil pills once we take off and always get several hours of sleep on board.”

And many travelers take melatonin to help them sleep when they want to sleep. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says using the nutritional supplement is “controversial” because its production is not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.

The 2008 American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommendations on jet lag include the following: “Remain on home time if the travel period is two days or less.”

Be sure you have everything in your carry-on bag that you’ll need to sleep on the plane. This includes slippers or heavy socks so you can remove your shoes, noise-canceling headphones plus little foam earplugs in case the headphones get uncomfortable, a sleep mask, a neck pillow, and your own pashmina or blanket. (Use the airline’s blanket for lumbar support, suggests one frequent traveler.)

Other carry-on must-haves: a large bottle of water and a selection of healthy snacks. Two travelers in our survey strongly recommend compression socks when flying to keep the circulation in your legs moving.

Here’s a great idea from the  Web site of world traveler Rick Steves:

“Flying halfway around the world is stressful. If you leave frazzled after a hectic last night, there’s a good chance you won’t be healthy for the first part of your trip. An early-trip cold used to be a regular part of my vacation until I learned this very important trick: Plan from the start as if you’re leaving two days before you really are. Keep that last 48-hour period sacred (apart from your normal work schedule), even if it means being hectic before your false departure date. Then you have two orderly, peaceful days after you’ve packed so that you are physically ready to fly.”

Most business travelers recommend skipping caffeine and alcohol in flight—and some cut back on the day before they fly. One advises abstaining "until you are well adjusted to your new time zone.” Says another: “Moderation is key. I drink very little to no alcohol in flight (although a nice red hits the spot).”

One camp firmly believes a nap is in order upon arrival in your destination. The most common advice is to make it short—20 or 30 minutes—so as not to interfere with nighttime sleep. A hotelier who travels frequently disagrees, however: “When I land, I allow at least two hours for a nap. It is important to be ‘on’ and this is something I must do.”

Opposite the napping camp is the working-out camp. One traveler reports heading right out for a refreshing run upon arrival. Another uses his arrival day to combine exercise with orientation. “Once I arrive, I go for a long walk as soon as possible,” he says. “This is a great time to see the town, and see the area around your hotel. I never go to sleep before 9 p.m. Doing this on the first day will typically put me on schedule with no jet lag until I depart.” And another favors exercise or activity in order to help her stay awake. “I try to make my first day a busy one so that the activity keeps me alert.”

“I beat jet lag with yoga,” says one frequent business traveler. “When I get to my hotel room after a long flight I do a selection of poses that help me to re-energize my body. I find that yoga poses help me in reducing stress and fatique, opening the chest, getting oxygen back into the lungs, and getting my blood circulation going again." (Similary, many suggest moving around in flight to protect against deep vein thrombosis.)

If there is anything like a "cure" for jet lag, it's sunlight, which can help you adjust your circadian rhythms faster. When traveling westward, seek the sun in the evening, to help you stay up. When traveling eastward, being out in the light in the morning will help you wake up.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests trying to reset your body clock a few days before you leave home: "Shift the timing of sleep to 1–2 hours later for a few days before traveling westward and shifting the timing of sleep to 1–2 hours earlier for a few days before traveling eastward. It can also be helpful to shift mealtimes to hours that coincide with these changes.”

“I don’t have any magic answers besides a lot of water and resisting the urge to nap to stay on current time!" laments one traveler, adding, "I also learned last fall when I was in Istanbul that Turkish coffee lives up to its reputation and a little bit of that goes a long way in keeping you going!”

Call this the grin-and-bear-it method: “I have no cure, and despite the frequency of my travel have never beaten it with recourse to legal drugs or alcohol,” shrugs one business traveler.

Says another, “I always just sleep it off!”

Yet another tries to see it as an opportunity: “I take advantage of the extra time in the morning when I travel west. Early mornings before the day starts (and you can’t sleep anyway), is a great time to get extra work done!”

Just kidding. But the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention actually does tell long-haul travelers to “avoid situations requiring critical decision making, such as important meetings, for the first day after arrival.”

Those who wear a watch swear by setting it to your new time zone early. One does it while the plane is taxiing for takeoff. Another, who does it as soon as he steps onto the plane, says, "This allows your mind to adjust to what time it is in your destination, and it will drag your body into compliance."

And did we mention drinking a lot of water? Nearly all our respondents did, but only one gave some specific advice: one liter per four hours of flying.