Strategies for Sleeping During Flights
 

Recently I started using a new eye/sleep mask that I found allowed me to sleep during shorter and daytime flights and that got me thinking about various strategies I employ to sleep so I wrote an article about it.

How to Sleep During a Flight: The Secrets of In-Flight Slumber

I'm sure I missed a few - so please add yours and let's discuss strategies for in-flight slumber here.

http://www.frequentbusinesstraveler....38-300x199.jpg

I have only grabbed some meaningful sleep on 5 flights.

LHR-JNB (x2)
JNB-LHR (x1)
JFK-LHR (x1)
ORD-FRA(x1)

On the first 4 they were overnight flights, late departure, so my body was naturally tired. Sat in a variety of cabins, from Y, to Y+ to J.

On the ORD-FRA we had a long ground hold for deicing and the booze was flowing freely in J. Coupled with a couple drinks at the AC and drink service during dinner I was fairly looped and passed out before desert. (I am not a heavy drinker, so 4 screwdrivers, 3 glasses of wine and 4 mimosas in a 4 hour period hit me hard) Oddly I had a great sleep and arrived in FRA feeling very good.

Just curious. Over what period of time were these 5 and on how many flights were you simply unable to sleep.

I am fortunate that I have no problems sleeping on flights. As soon as I feel the plane push back from the gate my eye lids get heavy and I pass out like a baby in a car seat...

I am not a big coffee drinker, maybe a cup a day in the morning but I have found avoiding caffine all together a day before does wonders for me. That and a liquor based drink, wine makes me edgy.

me neither - Y, J, whatever....

its a blessing :)

I believe in several glasses of champagne, plus a scotch or white russian at the end help me fall asleep on long-hauls, but that's mostly in F/J... If i'm stuck in Y then no amount of booze will let me sleep longer than an hour or two, and I resort to the old and true method of downing half a sleeping pill

You are both lucky! :)^

The half-life (not actually applicable for ethanol; its metabolism is largely independent on concentration) is too long. Zaleplon is your friend when it comes to short acting hypnotics.

I wish my flights were long enough for this to matter.

If I'm going to Asia (where timing your sleep to accommodate the destination time zone is vital for workday survival) I rely on a nice mix of red wine and a xanax. I'm scared of "sleeping" pills like ambien - 36k ft is not where I want to be doing random things I can't remember.

When flying with my kids (8 & 10) dramamine is a lifesaver.

(disclaimer that this is my recipe - use at your own risk and always test these on the ground!)

I can almost never get any real sleep or rest in Y. The most I've ever gotten in one nap was about 90 minutes.

In J, I can usually pass out after enough alcohol in my system so long as the bed/seat is flat (VS, BA, NZ, AC)... Almost no real sleep, but can rest on AA, LH. However, the combination of too much alcohol plus altitude usually results in a not fun next day for me. :(

Any tricks to stop snoring? :(

After a major accident and some extensive nasal surgery, I can't breathe properly through my nose, so when I sleep, I default to breathing through my mouth, resulting in me snoring to my utter embarrassment. Which is why I just don't sleep, causing me to arrive at my destination utterly unrested, irritable and tired.

Find a surgeon to correct the damage; sue the surgeon who botched the procedure.

I tend to adjust to the timezone I'm flying to while on board, which normally means setting my watch to that timezone on boarding and trying to sleep according to that time.

The flights I have problems getting a useful amount of sleep on are those under ~5 hours, overnight ~6-7 hour flights and daytime flights west from Asia. Even then, I get some amount of sleep.

Umm, I think jatink said it was a major accident that caused the problem, not a botched surgery. Why is suing always the answer? A bad outcome does not mean malpractice. Could be that the surgeon's skill is the only reason (s)he can breathe through the nose at all.

Back to the topic... it sounds silly, but I've found that using a Thermacare heat wrap or other chemical "handwarmer" type product between my back and the seat (in conjunction with some of the other tricks listed above) goes a long way in letting me drift off to sleep. Focusing on the heat lulls me into a drowsy state. I do the same thing with the heated seats when I'm a passenger for a long car trip.