To sleep or not to sleep
 

What are you recommendations when it comes to sleeping on a long journey?

I'm going to fly east, leaving home at midnight, fly for 10 hours, have a layover of 1h30, then fly for 5h30 and land at midnight (local time).
My goal is to start the following day rested and ready to go (early).

Should I sleep on the first leg, nap, stay awake until the final destination...?

Sounds like you don't do this often, so I'd say just stay awake.

I do things like this often, so I just sleep on flights as I don't get affected by jetlag anymore.

They say it's best to sync with the destination. So eat when it is meal time at the destination and sleep when it is sleep time at the destination. This is not always possible of course, nor realistic.

That said, sleeping as much as you can will keep you from becoming a total zombie by the time you get there, and will subjectively shorten the journey for you. My own habit is to sleep as much as I can, especially on long trips from the US to Asia or Australia. And if I can't, that's when I break out the pills. The fact is that when I land, I am refreshed and less punchy, even if the daylight is reversed. I can deal with jetlag once I am settled.

Same. I try to sleep and I will take something to help if needed. I would rather sleep more or at odd times than be awake and foggy. I've been unable to sleep a few times and found myself feeling really awful because of it. Besides, long flights can be really boring so sleep makes them go faster.

I sleep on eastbound TATLs and TPACs, stay awake on westbounds, except for night departure westbound TPACs. Those I sleep for (at least partly).

+1. I try and switch my watch as soon as I board (or after I eat the meal on eastbound TATL) so that my sleep cycle feels real with the time zone I'm going (e.g., look it's already 2am in London so I'm sleeping and when I wake up it'll be morning).

And for the late night westbound TPACs since they arrive in the early morning, I stay awake for at least the first 2-3 hours if possible so that I can sleep for most of the second part of the flight (when it's nighttime where I'm going) and when I wake up, I can look at my watch and the local time is 4-6am which feels more natural and lets me hit the ground running

The least jetlagged I've ever been after a long-haul itinerary was when I flew back-to-back redeyes. DEN-SFO-HKG with a midnight departure, arrived 6am HKG, departed 9:30pm HKG-AKL arriving at 1pm the next day. Managed to sleep for all of the HKG-AKL leg and had no jet lag at all once I reached New Zealand. :D

The thing to remember is that the travelling itself is exuausting, even with lounges and F class lie flats. I don't care how comfy you are, LAX to HKG or BKK for example would destroy even the most seasoned flier if they got no sleep. And landing is not the end of it. You still have to negotiate through customs, find your ride, and find your destination. In a state of exhaustion, you make mistakes. You get confused. Your emotions get completely out of whack. You can even get physically ill..my wife starts throwing up after 24 straight hours of travel. Exhaustion is not too different from being intoxicated, and can become debilitating. So best is to eat as much as you can, because caloric energy can stave off the worst aspects of exhaustion, sleep as much as you can to clear the acetylcholine out of your brain (it's what keeps you awake but builds up over a day and becomes harmful unless cleared by sleep), and stay hyrated.

I sometimes feel that the steps taken to avoid jet lag run counter to managing exhaustion. Skipping a meal, eating at odd times, and avoiding sleep..if you are going to do this, do it DAYS before your trip, not simply in the last 24 hours before you arrive. The gains seem minimal doing it in transit, vs taking care of your own condition enroute.

The problem with sync'ing with the destination time zone as you board the plane is that it can mean skipping an entire night.

If you board at midnight and it's already early morning at destination then it's going to be a really tiring journey.

I've stopped over-thinking it. If I'm tired I sleep and don't if I'm not. I don't force myself to sleep or stay awake.

Much of what is attributed to jet lag IMO is actually the result of disrupted sleep schedules. There is a significant difference, for me at least, between an overnight YYZ-LHR and the daytime flight. I'm much better rested the next day if I don't fly overnight.

If I have to fly overnight I take the latest flight possible. I will be more likely to sleep and can go directly to my hotel upon arrival for a nap instead of having to contend with a few hours before check-in time.

For whatever reason I have a very hard time sleeping on airplanes, even lie flat seats don't help much. I'm envious of those that can (including my wife and kids). I've tried everything, but I've accepted that I'm simply going to feel like crap upon landing after some flights. I do ok on westbound flights to Hawaii, but Australia is hard on me. Eastbound red eyes from Hawaii are killer for me, but only on longer trips. I had family and clients in Hawaii and could often pull off flying in early afternoon, and depart very late in the evening back to DEN and do just fine, but if I spend more that a couple of days in Hawaii I'm pretty much screwed when I return, and I now simply budget a day to recover in my plans. That said, I didn't seem to have a problem flying ORD-MUC-FCO last year in a lie flat for the long portion, but once again my wife and kids did better than me.

Good thread, as I'm curious of anything I possibly haven't tried to make my travels a little easier.

I tend to sleep a lot more going east to west on long hauls.
IMHO, I have tired many sleep patterns over a long time of flying long hauls, none really work,
for me, I sleep when I get sleepy and dont fight the urge to stay awake. (it works out very well for me)

Sleep the first 4hrs of your flight and stay awake for the remaining 6hrs + layover + connecting flight.

That would be the equivalent of waking up at 13:00 at your DEST so you will be tired enough to go back to sleep around 01:00 when you arrive.

Lack of sleep is never good in any calculation. Jet lag, meaning being out of sync with daylight, is a different issue. I have never understood how going sleep deprived to match up with a clock makes sense. For us it is necessary to just crash for awhile no matter what. Unquestionably daylight flights westbound are easier than flying all night eastbound. Also for us lie flat may leave one less physically abused but it doesn't produce a good nights sleep. Most TATL flights are too short to get enough sleep. Maybe a long TPAC it can be done. I envy people who claim they actually sleep in J and go right to activities when then land, if there really are any such people who really do that as opposed to just function as zombies half the time.

Depends on how long you have to sleep from the time you get to your hotel until your first meeting. If your first meeting is not until some reasonable time (say 6-8 hrs after your hotel arrival time), this is pretty easy. Fall asleep when you get on the plane for the first leg, then stay awake from whatever time you wake up until you arrive at the hotel so that hopefully you will be able to fall asleep again. This would be the equivalent of going to bed early at home and after you factor in the fatigue and poor sleep on a plane versus in a true bed, should not be an issue.

If your first meeting is very soon after finally getting into the hotel (for example you might arrive at your hotel at 1:30am after collecting luggage, clearing customs and travel time to the hotel, etc. and then have a 6am meeting), then you need to prioritize getting at least some sleep on your 2nd leg of your flight. In that case, actively try to get a medium length nap on your 2nd flight. This may not be too difficult because from your home clock perspective, it will be mid-afternoon when your body is prone to being willing to take a nap anyway.

In either case, invest in the best set of noise-cancelling headphones you can afford, and try wearing them to bed one night at home to see if you can sleep with them on. If you are a side sleeper, you may find over-the-ear ones difficult to wear and sleep at the same time, likewise some in ear ones are very comfortable when you are awake, but then when you put one ear down, the pressure points change and become uncomfortable. Also, bring an eye mask to create darkness whenever you are ready to sleep.

My short amount of experience has had me sleeping as much as possible on the plane because you'll be tired no matter what you do. I've done the no sleep, syncing, etc. And as others have mentioned, coming into the airport having to clear customs, possibly wait for baggage, grabbing a taxi or transit into the city, all adds time and stress to the end of the trip. So having some rest onboard can help you out.

It is very personal, just as it should be.
 

On long flights I sleep no matter what. If you sleep 8hrs on a 14hr flight you only have to find things to do for 6hrs. I find no matter what I do jet lag seems about the same and gave up on having any real strategy.

My rule of thumb is when I get on a plane I'm immediately in the time zone of the place I'm going. It has worked well for me. If I need to sleep, take an ambien and night night.

Most of my flying experience is UK to West Coast USA and back. I don't sleep going west but, I try to get as much sleep as possible going east.

I find if I sleep going east, I'm able to stay up from when I land (midday or whatever) to a decent bed time around 9pm. It's easier to get over the jet lag and get into time zone.

I sleep as much as I can independent of time. I think travel is exhausting in any case so I will always be tired at my destination anyway meaning rather more than little sleep is best.

I find that "sleep whenever and as long as I can" works best for me, regardless of the time zones I'm crossing.

If I were doing this, I'd go to sleep immediately after takeoff with a zopiclone, and get up in 8-9 hours.

Then i'd shower and go to bed in the hotel, after you arrive from the short segment, and not worry about what time it is when you get up.

I envy those who can sleep on a plane. I just factor in the first day as a lost day.