First: Resist the urge to snooze. “No matter where you are going, no matter what time you get there, stay up until midnight local time,” says Peter Greenberg, travel editor for NBC’s The Today Show. If you absolutely can’t keep your eyes open, it’s OK to take a short nap, says Dianne Tamuk, a flight attendant for United Airlines. Just make sure you don’t sleep for more than a couple of hours. And try to get into your normal routine as soon as possible. Get up when you usually do, and try to eat your meals, exercise, and go to bed at your regular times.

Then: Drink plenty of water to ward off kidney stones (which result from dehydration and are common among pilots and frequent fliers), urges pilot Tony Salmon, a first officer with Alaska Airlines. And, for the first day, “don’t eat anything with heavy sauces or anything that your body is going to have to work extra-hard to digest,” says Greenberg. Fruit, raw vegetables, and salads are all good choices.