getting to sleep the night before a trip -- any tips?
 

I have to get up at 3:45 Tuesday. I normally go to bed around 12 or so. I will try to get to sleep at 9:00pm Monday but that is hard to do.

I face a day that will be unpleasent as I will be very, very tired.

The thread on sleeping during a long flight made me aware of this problem. It is stressful knowing you have to get up early, and that makes it hard to sleep, at least for me.

I wonder if you have any advice? I can take an Ambien but that doesn't do it for me. It just makes me more relaxed but I still feel stressed out. I can write off having any sleep at all, which is what I should do. Not sleeping one night isn't the end of the world.

Anyone else have this problem? What do you do about it?

Paint the basement. Twice, if you have to.

Works for me every time.

Great topic ^

Doing something really physical and tiring the day before works for me (getting to sleep quickly and deeply). However I still seem to wake up way too early - something in my subconcious worried about missing the alarm I guess. Any tips?

always a good idea anyway before a trip ...

Wake up extra early the day before. This should make you tired.

Dan

Drink lots of wine.
Vigourous love-making.
Manual labor.
Drugs.
Force yourself to read a really boring book.

Just some suggestions - as for me, I can pretty much fall asleep anytime & anywhere & in almost any position - Although sometimes I do have to get up around 3:45 (damned 6AM flights out of BWI when DCA is less than 10 minutes away!), on those days, I sometimes just stay awake & pass out on the plane (of course, the first day of that trip generally sucks, but if it's a mileage run, I don't mind as I just sleep on the planes - if it's for any other reason though - I do try to make sure I'm on-point as needed).

If I really do need to fall asleep, I'll go to bed early (like a 9-10 pm) & pop in a movie I've seen one too many times, but it's still a good movie - I'll eventually fall asleep.

Also, you mentioned the stress of having to wake up early makes it hard to sleep - I know what you mean - I'm worried I'll sleep through my alarm clock. To avoid this, I set the clock radio to an annoying station or in-between stations so it's fuzzy sounding & place it accross the room, so I actually have to get out of bed to turn it off. Then, I set my cell-phone's alarm clock for about 3 minutes after my regular alarm. I generally leave my cell phone charging before a trip & have that set up on my desk - so I have to get out bed twice to turn off the alarms - by the second time, I'm usually awake enough to realize I have to get in the shower. Also, I make sure that I have everything I need packed the night before so I don't have to be too concerned that I'm forgetting something.

:D

So, then you have to go to sleep extra early TWO nights before instead of the night before.... How do you achieve that?

:D :D :D

Meditate and empty your mind. Then you should have no problem. But if you are stressed and worrying, then you'll have a hard time sleeping.

I always advise non frequent-flyers to do the best they can to not think about their upcoming long-haul trip. Most people's minds are racing the day before a long flight. This anticipation prevents sleep, which means you will be very tired upon arrival, overly jet-lagged and with even more stress your two-week vacation in "paradise" ends up starting a week late or ruined completely by catching the flu or something.

Be careful with the Ambien unless you have enough time to sleep- 5 hours, for example, might not be enough.

I always set 2 alarm clocks because otherwise I keep waking up and worrying about oversleeping. (My cell phone has one built in so I use that in the US- otherwise, I use a wind-up type and have the hotel front desk call me.)

I'm a veteran of 7 AM flights from EWR to DFW at least once a month over 3 years at previous job. I just resigned myself to the fact that I was going to have a short night that night, and let it go. The first night in TX, I'd settle into bed early with a good book and sleep extremely well for longer than usual- which was enough to get me back to normal. Tomorrow I'm heading to MDW on a 7 AM flight and that's how I'll handle it- except that I have a business dinner tomorrow night!

Get a good massage from a reputable spa/masseur in the late afternoon before you leave. Great way to relieve and remove tension.

And at some point, you'll reach a point in life where the advantages of a more relaxing trip will outweigh the advantages of condensed travel. When that happens, you'll find yourself avoiding those 7am flights and rearranging your schedules so that you spend more nights in a bed and fewer in an airplane seat.

How about a dis-reputable massage? Are they any good :D

My husband works rotating shifts and is not allowed by his employer to take any sleep-inducing medications. Some days he gets home at 2:30 p.m. and has to head back to work at 9:30 p.m. not to get home again until 6 a.m. He usually cannot sleep at 6 p.m., so instead he has learned to just go lie down, close his eyes and relax for a few hours. Sometimes he does fall asleep, but most often he doesn't. Still, the relaxation leaves him fairly well rested - at least well enough to work your airplane. (Now there's a thought that should help you relax. ;) )

Wow, what a schedule. I'm not worried, however. His schedule must throw yours for a loop, as well, no?

I do a lot of early am wake-ups being west coast-based & heading east.

Pack the night before. One less thing to worry about in the morning and since you're used to staying up later vs getting up early, might as well utilize the time.

Set 2 alarms. One electronic (probably your normal alarm clock). One analog or not connected to electricity (sports watch, cell phone). Last 2 trips I had electricity go out & would have been SOL w/o back-up.

Turn the clock away so that if you do wake up in the middle of the night, you won't know what time it was (other than it's not wake-up time cuz otherwise your alarm would be going off). Hard to explain, but if you don't know what time it is your brian can't connect to how much sleep you're actually losing (or not) & will go back to sleep easier. As I said hard to explain, but it works. Especially when you're going to dif time zones.

Don't drink alcohol - or not too close to bedtime. Alcohol can disrupt sleep in middle of night. Up to you on the vigorous love-making or painting the basement suggestions ;)

Acknowledge you're not going to get a full night, but doesn't mean it still can't be quality sleep for the amount you're getting. And that as soon as your laptop or luggage is stowed on the plane, you can go back to sleep/take a nap. If you have eye shades, bring them w/ you on the plane & start snoozing.

Don't think when you go to bed, oh gosh I'm not gonna get much sleep, I'm going to be tired, etc - those are just negative thoughts that will prevent you from going to sleep easily.

If you've got a white machine or a CD w/ nature things (like ocean waves), pop that in as you're going to sleep or trying to. Think sleep, sleep, breathe deeply & think of sheep in meadows (read in an article that visualizing sheep in meadows - according to some research - does actually put folk to sleep faster - go figure!) Of course whether you actually want to count them or not is up to you :D Anyway, I've done the ocean wave, sleep, slowly, sheep thing - not sure which worked, but I usually fell asleep.

Be glad you're not doing it on the time change 2x/year - that one always screws up my sleep wondering if I set the clocks properly or the hotel did or the cab driver did :eek:

Good luck, & worst case get to sleep at a reasonable hour when you get to your destination.

Cheers. Sharon

Melatonin
 

Melatonin is the natural sleep hormone. Its levels cycle with your body clock and need to be reset. It is safe, as it is not a synthetic drug. There are many articles about when and how much to take - just do a Google search.

It works for me and for many of my colleagues - and we are long-time researchers in the field of biological clocks.

There are times it can be worth the $$ to stay at a hotel by the airport so that your "wake up" time is not so bizarre.

Not that it helps -- but this is my biggest problem with travelling. I fly the 6AM a lot, but still cannot fall asleep the night before, unless I'm exhausted. It's quite frustrating -- I'll wake up 10x the night before even if i set a bunch of alarms.

I set a second alarm on the other side of the room so I won't turn it off in my slleep. That cuts down on the anxiety of missing the alarm.

If you're a big guy (and based on some of your other posts in the past I suspect you are), the dose of ambien you are taking may not be enough for you to fall asleep, if all it is doing is making you relaxed.

Some people, especially small people, are out very quickly with 2.5 mg. Others need 5, or 10, or even 20mg (extreme) to fall asleep. But still make sure you have 4-5 hours to sleep after it kicks in.

Here's what I did:

1. took an Ambien (thanks for the info on dose. I'm not sure of the dose I'm taking. I will check into this.

2. took an anti-histamine

3. took a melatonin

4. took some theanine which I bought for this purpose in a health food store.

I finally got to sleep around midnight and slept solidly until 4, thankfully.

I flew to Atlanta, did a major presentation with a group, flew to Pennsylvania, etc. etc. and was able to function. So it was worth it. The drugs and supplements took the stess out of trying to sleep and I didn't wake up or ruminate about not sleeping.

Antihistamines, such as Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) actually have the opposite effect on me... for some reason they make me more restless and antsy. :( BTW, did you know that Diphenhydramine is also the active ingredient in a lot of OTC sleep remedies (such as 'Simply Sleep', 'Tylenol PM', and 'Unisom').

My doctor prescribed me Sonata (zaleplon is the generic name for those outside the USA) because I had trouble falling asleep when I was working weird schedules. The good thing about Sonata is that it is shorter acting than Ambien (4-6 hours) and doesn't leave you with that groggy feeling that a lot of people have experienced with Ambien. For me, at least, it helps me fall asleep within a half hour or so, and generally, once I am asleep, I will stay asleep on my own.

One thing I've noticed with Sonata is that I often wake up feeling really dry and thirsty, so I usually leave a glass of water next to the bed.

I have never really consisdered this a problem per say, "getting to sleep the night before a trip".
I usually get by on 4-5 hours of sleep a night, if I get more then 7 hours I feel groggy and out of it for several hours after I wake up.

If I can't fall asleep I usually just pull an all nighter, which may not work for others but has worked for me so far so well.
If I must get some sleep, I do the multiple alarm clock routine to make sure I do wake up at the desired time.

The one thing that has not failed yet in helping me get to sleep when I need to is the vigourous love-making as stated previously. Of course having a willing participant is helpful when doing this. ;)