To the annoyance of people around me I have no trouble sleeping on long haul flights. And I don't take any fancy medication to do so. Having traveled a lot I've come to the conclusion that sleeping on a plane is a matter of attitude and a little preparation. This post is not for people who travel business or first class. It's for the average stiff who, like me, travels hundreds of thousands of miles in economy class.
First the gear. I put this here because everyone thinks that buying stuff is the vital element. This isn't actually true, the important bit is mental, but buying stuff might be a salve that'll make you work on the mental stuff later.
To create the conditions suitable for sleep you need: quiet, darkness, comfort and warmth. These are all hard things to come by on a jet, but much can be done do get close to good conditions.
Quiet
This is cheap and expensive: I use ear plugs plus noise canceling headphones. Even with good quality ear plugs the noise canceling headphones will cut out sounds (particularly hissing sounds). I typically use silicone ear plugs because they mould to your ear shape and then I wear Bose QuietComfort 3 headphones. I'm not recommending specific brands though, just get good quality ear plugs and good quality headphones.
With those on and in you've got quiet.
Darkness
Avoid the free blindfold that's given to passengers in economy class. They are usually ill fitting and uncomfortable with tiny elastic straps. Just buy a good blindfold which is wide enough to cover your eyes completely (including round the side of your head and above your eyebrows), that fits snugly around the nose (best if there is material that flaps down along the nose to keep out light) and has a wide, adjustable strap. Such as these.
Also make sure that the blindfold really cuts light: test it by shining a torch in your eyes while wearing it.
Now you have dark.
Comfort
Get a neck pillow. I fly with one sewn by a member of my family, but you can just go buy one. I avoid the inflatable ones because they tend to be uncomfortable. It's worth the carry on space to have a good neck pillow (and they squash easily).
Wear it 'backwards' (i.e. with the slot pointing backwards so that your head can flop forward onto it. You'll still be able to lean sideways onto it to rest your head, but when you are asleep your head will move forward without you realizing.
Warmth
I usually find that the blanket given by the airline is enough to keep me warm on a flight. If the flight is empty I'll steal a second one. One goes around by stomach, chest, legs with the seat belt fastened on the outside so that you will not be awakened by a flight attendant checking the belt. The other goes around by shoulders to keep my back and upper arms warm.
It's very important to keep your feet warm, but don't do it with your shoes on. To sleep comfortably you need to loosen your clothes. I loosen collar, cuffs and waist (undoing my belt and lowering my fly: looks odd to you, but it's under a blanket so no one else need to know) and I remove my shoes and socks.
To keep my feet warm I travel with a pair of sport socks that are two sizes too big for me. These slip on easily, don't constrict my ankles, and keep me warm.
The Seat
You want the best seat available: that means avoiding people walking over you (so you need a window seat), with lots of leg room (a bulkhead or exit row), that reclines (some seats on some aircraft have limited recline). Since you can choose your seat with most airlines online (often weeks in advance) do so.
To find out which seats are best use SeatGuru. SeatGuru has seat maps for all the airlines showing which seats are good or bad. I recently flew from San Francisco to London on British Airways and used SeatGuru to choose seat 29A (here's the seat map). 29A is an exit row seat with a half row of seats in front of it. Your legs stick out further even than a bulkhead seat. It reclines normally and is by the window.
Get in the Zone
The rule of sleeping on a plane is that that is all you do. You do not eat, you do not read, you do not watch a movie, you do not think about the time: you do nothing but sleep.
If you need to eat, do it at the airport before you board. You are not going to waste time waiting for the onboard meal when you could be sleeping. I prefer to eat at the airport and have a single drink (such as a beer). Do not drink anything caffeinated. I avoid caffeine for about four hours before each flight. Then I'll wait at the gate. Once onboard immediately use the toilet to avoid needing to go a little later (also the toilets are at their cleanest then).
Then sit down and prepare to sleep by getting out all the gear above. After take off recline the seat and prepare to sleep. Tell the person sitting next to you that you are going to sleep and do not need waking up for meals (at least once a helpful person has woken me for a meal I didn't want), tell the crew that you do not want any food now or before landing (you can always change your mind about the latter if you are awake when breakfast is served).
Do not think about the time. Last week when leaving San Francisco it was about 1730 which is much too early to sleep (think that and you'll stress yourself thinking you can't go to sleep yet), in the UK it was 0130 which is much too late to go to sleep (think that and you'll stress yourself thinking of sleep you've missed). But the flight was over ten hours. The right thing to think is: oh, 10 hours of sleep, that'll do me good. But do not look at your watch and think about the flight time left. Just close your eyes, put on the blindfold, shut out the noise and relax.
Of course, relaxing is hard, but I find that something simple like alternate nostril breathing works wonders to calm me down. The yogi probably won't tell you but the beer also helps.
PS It's important to know how to unblock your ears because blocked ears can be painful. Here's a good description.
First the gear. I put this here because everyone thinks that buying stuff is the vital element. This isn't actually true, the important bit is mental, but buying stuff might be a salve that'll make you work on the mental stuff later.
To create the conditions suitable for sleep you need: quiet, darkness, comfort and warmth. These are all hard things to come by on a jet, but much can be done do get close to good conditions.
Quiet
This is cheap and expensive: I use ear plugs plus noise canceling headphones. Even with good quality ear plugs the noise canceling headphones will cut out sounds (particularly hissing sounds). I typically use silicone ear plugs because they mould to your ear shape and then I wear Bose QuietComfort 3 headphones. I'm not recommending specific brands though, just get good quality ear plugs and good quality headphones.
With those on and in you've got quiet.
Darkness
Avoid the free blindfold that's given to passengers in economy class. They are usually ill fitting and uncomfortable with tiny elastic straps. Just buy a good blindfold which is wide enough to cover your eyes completely (including round the side of your head and above your eyebrows), that fits snugly around the nose (best if there is material that flaps down along the nose to keep out light) and has a wide, adjustable strap. Such as these.
Also make sure that the blindfold really cuts light: test it by shining a torch in your eyes while wearing it.
Now you have dark.
Comfort
Get a neck pillow. I fly with one sewn by a member of my family, but you can just go buy one. I avoid the inflatable ones because they tend to be uncomfortable. It's worth the carry on space to have a good neck pillow (and they squash easily).
Wear it 'backwards' (i.e. with the slot pointing backwards so that your head can flop forward onto it. You'll still be able to lean sideways onto it to rest your head, but when you are asleep your head will move forward without you realizing.
Warmth
I usually find that the blanket given by the airline is enough to keep me warm on a flight. If the flight is empty I'll steal a second one. One goes around by stomach, chest, legs with the seat belt fastened on the outside so that you will not be awakened by a flight attendant checking the belt. The other goes around by shoulders to keep my back and upper arms warm.
It's very important to keep your feet warm, but don't do it with your shoes on. To sleep comfortably you need to loosen your clothes. I loosen collar, cuffs and waist (undoing my belt and lowering my fly: looks odd to you, but it's under a blanket so no one else need to know) and I remove my shoes and socks.
To keep my feet warm I travel with a pair of sport socks that are two sizes too big for me. These slip on easily, don't constrict my ankles, and keep me warm.
The Seat
You want the best seat available: that means avoiding people walking over you (so you need a window seat), with lots of leg room (a bulkhead or exit row), that reclines (some seats on some aircraft have limited recline). Since you can choose your seat with most airlines online (often weeks in advance) do so.
To find out which seats are best use SeatGuru. SeatGuru has seat maps for all the airlines showing which seats are good or bad. I recently flew from San Francisco to London on British Airways and used SeatGuru to choose seat 29A (here's the seat map). 29A is an exit row seat with a half row of seats in front of it. Your legs stick out further even than a bulkhead seat. It reclines normally and is by the window.
Get in the Zone
The rule of sleeping on a plane is that that is all you do. You do not eat, you do not read, you do not watch a movie, you do not think about the time: you do nothing but sleep.
If you need to eat, do it at the airport before you board. You are not going to waste time waiting for the onboard meal when you could be sleeping. I prefer to eat at the airport and have a single drink (such as a beer). Do not drink anything caffeinated. I avoid caffeine for about four hours before each flight. Then I'll wait at the gate. Once onboard immediately use the toilet to avoid needing to go a little later (also the toilets are at their cleanest then).
Then sit down and prepare to sleep by getting out all the gear above. After take off recline the seat and prepare to sleep. Tell the person sitting next to you that you are going to sleep and do not need waking up for meals (at least once a helpful person has woken me for a meal I didn't want), tell the crew that you do not want any food now or before landing (you can always change your mind about the latter if you are awake when breakfast is served).
Do not think about the time. Last week when leaving San Francisco it was about 1730 which is much too early to sleep (think that and you'll stress yourself thinking you can't go to sleep yet), in the UK it was 0130 which is much too late to go to sleep (think that and you'll stress yourself thinking of sleep you've missed). But the flight was over ten hours. The right thing to think is: oh, 10 hours of sleep, that'll do me good. But do not look at your watch and think about the flight time left. Just close your eyes, put on the blindfold, shut out the noise and relax.
Of course, relaxing is hard, but I find that something simple like alternate nostril breathing works wonders to calm me down. The yogi probably won't tell you but the beer also helps.
PS It's important to know how to unblock your ears because blocked ears can be painful. Here's a good description.
Comments
I have a pair of baggy tracksuit bottoms and long-sleeve t-shirt, that roll down into nothing, which I change into in the departure lounge or on the plane. With a pair of thick warm socks it makes the world of difference.
I love watching people on the SFO->LHR flight who dress like they're on the way to an evening in a cocktail bar. They invariably end up looking disheveled and grumpy by the time we arrive.
A few different advices: eat in the plane but don't do it the usual way. I always request vegetarian meal (special meal request).
1) you have a light meal (and easy digestion)
2) you are served first and foremost
Agree with the movie comment. Do not start using the entertainment system!
Thanks for the tips, too - must admit I have resorted to Valium on more than one occasion, I'll have to give these healthier tips a try!
Seth
It's also a wise idea to purchase, and wear, a set of headphones well in advance of your planned trip. Ten minutes into the flight is not the right time to put them on your head for the first time. Find a pair that are comfortable and get used to them long before you board the aircraft, otherwise you're just your wasting time.
The eye mask and ear plugs are really essential since there are always screaming children and fluorescent lights.
Sleepy travels!
Alternatively, I like to take advantage of the pressurization effect and use it to knock myself out. I always feel sleepy when they close the door, so I can usually doze off before we even taxi.
Of course, with both approaches, you lose the ability to use the noise-cancelling headset, but you can put them around your neck and use them if something nudges you slightly awake during the flight.
I haven't seen this done on other airlines -- and it makes an awful lot of sense.
Instead, sit back and be the very last person aboard.
Often you'll find much better seats than yours that are left empty.
Sometimes, you'll even find a whole row empty that you can take.
And if not, well you still have your assigned seat.
1) Set your watch to destination time once on the plane, so that if you do wake or check the time, it will be in the context of where you want to land.
2) One whiskey is better than one beer -- same sedating effect but less of an impact on the bladder.
3) I tend to wake (much earlier -- like middle of the night) the day of flight so that I will be more tired when boarding.
4) The day before the flight, I also skip the meal corresponding to "sleep time" at the destination (I make up for it by eating a meal when I wake up early.)
All of these work with the tips here to trick your body into accepting sleep.
[Coming up on 30 transoceanic trips with no jet lag on either end!]
About the window seat: it may pay to persevere. I tried to change a seat for a forthcoming transcontinental flight, but the only window seat was at the very back. I got it, but I called again later (the same day), and there were two other window seats available. Supposedly someone changed, or cancelled their reservation, or perhaps the first attendant simply didn't try hard enough. Anyway, I got a much better seat.
Also: I'm going somewhere 5 timezones away, so I figured I'd try to shift my own "timezone" to that, 1h a day, until the day of the trip. Everyday, starting a week before departure, I'll go to bed and get up one hour earlier (after 5 days, I'll just keep the pace). This means that, for a few days before the trip, I'll go to bed really early, and be up while it's still night time. But hopefully I'll be up not feeling sleepy in the morning for my commitment in Europe :)
Take that sleeping pill the night before you fly, and sleep as late as possible, until you have just enough time to get up, eat "breakfast" and go to the airport.
Then, watch movies, read, get up and walk about (do NOT get a window seat) in short, rather than trying to force yourself to sleep in an economy seat, just "enjoy" the flight and then deal with a bit of jet lag upon arrival.