Welcome to FT!

I'm personally not a big fan of the sleeping aids for the first time on an overseas flight without a serious discussion with your doctor. Are you somebody that can normally sleep anywhere? Or somebody that can't sleep unless everything is just so? And what time is your flight?

If you can normally sleep anywhere, then the trick is to wake up earlier and earlier during the week before your trip so that your body gradually thinks that you're in London. That way, you want to time it so that you can get on the airplane at what your body thinks is 'midnight,' hit your window seat, and crash out.

If you can't sleep on airplanes (that's my dad), you need to get as much sleep as possible before the flight - take a 3-4 hour nap before you leave for the airport.

Either way:
- Eat an hour or two before you get on the plane, enough so that your body will have done most of the serious digestion before you board;
- Eat foods that will normally make you sleepier (for example, drink some milk) and avoid anything that day that will might you an upset stomach;
- A couple of shots of Bailey's or something similar is good if you like that stuff. Personally I'd avoid beer because of the volume;
- IPod or a full 256MB MP3 player with music geared towards sleeping;
- Good noise-cancellling headphones (Bose QC2, Sony NC20) - I prefer the old-style over the ear instead of the earbud;
- Eyeshades if they don't annoy you (personally, I can't wear them); and
- Two 1L bottles of water for the flight - even if you don't drink it all on the flight, it's really annoying to be stuck in the immigration line and realize that you're ridiculously thirsty.