Boarding a nighttime overseas flight doesn’t have to be walk down the gangplank of no sleep. Spending 15 hours tilted slightly backwards seatbelted onto a small slab surrounded by 400 strangers runs counter to relaxing off into the dream world. You can, however, take steps to ease yourself into hours of slumber rather than suffering through a night of looking at your watch and thrashing about. I’m not sure I’ve mastered sleeping on a plane, but I have improved my ability over time. On my last overnight flight I slept so well I awoke feeling almost as if I’d spent the night in bed at home. Here’s some tips to get your eyes closed and keep them closed the next time you find yourself flying at night.
1. Lie Down While You Can - Before you board your bedtime flight, or during a layover, lie down across a couple of seats or on the floor. Even 15 or 30 minutes of going horizontal can relax your body into realizing just because all the lights are on and everyone is buzzing around, it still is time to sleep. When I have a middle of the night layover and I lie flat I can almost feel my molecules rearranging themselves into their proper positions. Getting your body into its natural bedtime position will help it realize that now is the time to sleep.
Creative Commons Photo By Lawtonjm
2. Dress Your Worst – Don’t worry about looking good 15 hours later when you land. Focus on the here and now of getting through the night. Imitate the comfort of pajamas – not during your entire traveling day but for the flight itself. Before you board the plane, change into something loose, comfortable and warm, so if your plane morphs into a refrigerator, you might not shiver yourself awake. You’ll be able to somewhat neatly fold the clothes you want to wear upon landing and throw them in the bin above your head. Then, after you land, hop back into your dress-to-impress clothes.
3. Stick To Your Bedtime Routine – Although your position while sleeping on a plane will be drastically altered, your bedtime habits can stay roughly the same. In fact, stick as close as possible to your bedtime routine, and sleep may not be too hard to find. If you’re a pre-bed snacker, eat the snack. If you like to read yourself to sleep, bring on board the book you were reading back home. Carry toothpaste and a toothbrush with you to add to the whole bedtime ambiance. Sure, it’s gross to brush your teeth in public and far more gross watching someone else brush. Nevertheless, at night airport bathrooms are rife with teeth brushers readying for their overnight flights. Alternatively, you can tie up a lavoratory for an extra couple minutes and brush them on board.
4. Bring Ammunition – Carry with you earplugs to silence the chatter of passengers who talk their way through the night, a sleep mask to block the lights shining from the seats of those who read the night away, and a travel pillow to prevent your head from lolling about once you drift off. Also while flying at night, try an holistic or over-the-counter sleep aid. This can help ease you away from the discomfort of the plane and into a world of sleep.
Creative Commons photo by Richard Moross
5. Maximize Your Legroom – You don’t have to spend the night with your legs wrapped around each other. There is a way to stick them straight out in front of you. After the plane has hit its peak altitude, after you and your seatmates have finished all of your getting up and down, drag whatever you have stowed under the seat in front of you and set it on the floor where your feet are resting. Now you can slide your legs right over or around that object and stretch them all the way out under the seat. You’ll be infinitely more comfortable and your position will more closely imitate lying supine.
6. Be a Lemming - Unfortunately, the cast and crew of the plane always feel like calling it a night long after I do. Ordinarily, I try to ignore their activity and sleep when I get tired. It never works. On my last overnight flight from L.A. to Sydney, I immediately gave up hope of sleeping as I wished when I learned that dinner would be served at approximatley 11:30 p.m. So I ate with the crowd, channel surfed, and patiently wasted time until the plane lights dimmed and people began wrapping their blue blankets around themselves. My patience rewarded me with hours and hours of the best night’s sleep I’ve ever gotten while on an overnight flight.
Add all of these tips together and signal your mind and body that it’s bedtime. Then you’ll have plenty of time to find the best travel deals like cheap flights to paris with FLY.com. Once you’ve got that settled, you can land at your next overseas destination groggy with a fair night’s sleep rather than wiped out from a night of staring out a dark window.
Creative Commons Photo by My Dear Delilah
How about you? Are you able to sleep when flying through the nighttime sky? If you’re one of the fortunate ones, do you have any additional tips for successfully sleeping on a plane?
Thumbnail sleeping on plane photo by stereogab
Good tips, Sabina. I’m not sure they’d work for me. I have a hard time sleeping with other people around, even with earplugs, eyemask and sleep aids. I think it might be easier if I flew on one of those cool airplanes where the seats really recline all the way back into a bed. Sleeping sitting nearly upright is just too damn hard (even with a neck pillow). Whereas I traveled with a friend once who had the middle seat and she slept as soundly as a cat on an overnight flight. I was so jealous.
Gray´s last blog ..Norwegian Epic- An Adult Playground
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
July 26th, 2010 at 05:55
I would love to fly on an airplane with the seat/beds! Hopefully some day you’ll be able to sleep on a plane. Or perhaps even get to sleep in a seat/bed.
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Sleeping in-flight has always been torture for me, except the few times I conned my way outa the cheap seats. My body just wasn’t designed to fit in those baby stroller-sized seats they expect to skrunch you up in !
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
July 26th, 2010 at 05:54
How did you con your way out of the cheap seats?
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Great tips! I definitely agree about sticking to your sleeping schedule – it’s so important. For long hauls from US to Asia, my trick is to move my body clock to my destination’s time before I take-off. So, before I leave Chicago, I set my watch to Bangkok time and eat & sleep according to that time zone. It means staying up 36 hours before starting, but it really works for me!
Bessie´s last blog ..Photo Journal- Modern Portraits of Seoul
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
July 26th, 2010 at 05:53
Hi, Bessie. Preparing your body clock before you leave sounds smart. But difficult. I’m glad you found what works for you.
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Just stumbled and tweeted this very good and helpful advice. I am one of the lucky persons who can sleep just about anywhere. I would however not recommend to sleep across seats or on the floor in an airport. Its just too uncomfortable nd leaves me with more aches and pains than necessary apart from being quite unhygienic.
inka´s last blog ..Muhlisbey Hotel Istanbul
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
July 26th, 2010 at 05:52
That’s funny. I never thought of it as being unhygienic, which I guess it is. It just feels so good to lie down.
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All very good tips. I have a terrible time getting sleep on planes. I have trouble falling asleep if there’s any noise around (which, there always is on a plane), and I can never get comfortable in my seat for more than 15 or 20 minutes at a time. Often, I end up not sleeping the night before a long flight so that I’m wiped out by the time I board. I’ve also found that, on some larger planes, I can use the tray table as my pillow and get some sleep bent over at awkward angles. Weird, but it works!
Amanda´s last blog ..Life behind China’s Great Firewall
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
July 26th, 2010 at 05:51
Thanks, Amanda. Not sleeping would be so rough. I hope you sleep well after you arrive!
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Another trick is to find a seat on board the plane that doesn’t have anyone sitting in the seat in front of it. What most people don’t realize is that airplane seats will push all the way forward, giving the person sitting behind, a complete bed to stretch their legs out on.
Most of the time I’ve done this, the airline staff didn’t even know this was possible, but it works and it makes a huge difference!
Earl´s last blog ..Living Abroad For Less Than 1000 Per Month
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
July 26th, 2010 at 05:49
Seriously? How do you get the seat to go forward? Please do tell.
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I think I am a lucky one who falls asleep pretty easily, if I have a eye mask I might even fall asleep too quickly. I think my biggest tip is that I am just always exhausted to the point where getting to sit down puts me to sleep.
I fully agree with all these tips, it is truly better to be as comfortable as possible, I always wear gym short and a sweatshirt for ultimate relaxation.
Migrationology´s last blog ..8 Glamorous Asian Icy Desserts
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
July 29th, 2010 at 07:52
I know. I am just so glad I can sleep. I feel for those who just sit there all night long, staring.
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I’ve found one of the best ways to sleep on a plane is just to load yourself up on sleeping pills
. It’s not exactly the healthiest way to do things but you’ll pass out and hopefully when you wake up you’ll have landed in your destination. Thanks for your entry.
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
July 29th, 2010 at 07:53
Hi Srinivas! I’ve done that – well, over-the-counter type sleeping aids, anyway. They make me feel terrible the next day, though. But it’s a good suggestion.
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I suggest not drinking any booze on the plane. For some it works, but if you wake up groggy and irritable, a plane seat is not the place to be.
Also last time I travelled to England from NZ I tried a trick to reset my body clock: Leave you stomach empty for 16 hours before breakfast. The idea is that after 16 hours of nothing in your tummy, your body clock will assume the next meal to be breakfast and set itself accordingly.
One last thing is a bit drastic but I did it on the way home: If you have a morning flight right around the world, stay up all night in the departure country then you’re pretty much gauranteed to sleep on the plane.
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
August 13th, 2010 at 04:03
These are great suggestions, I think. I’ve heard about staying up all night before in order to adjust, but I’d have to be pretty desperate myself.
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I used to be terrified to fly but wanting to travel I had to overcome the fear. I used to try to stay up a long time to perhaps be so tired that I just would pass out on the plane. No such luck. No matter how tired I was I would get on the plane and immediately be in full flight or fight mode. You can’t really sleep that off and now its a weird mix of tired fear tugging at your belly.
GUAP´s last blog ..From Homebody to Travel Writer GUAP Ranks
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
August 23rd, 2010 at 08:43
Oh, it would be so hard to stay up all night just to be able to sleep on the plane and then not fall asleep after all. I hope your fear of flying goes away so you can slumber.
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I just take a pillow or my jacket, maybe let me give a blanket of a stewardess, have my sunglasses to make it a bit darker around me… then I’ll just start sleeping.
Melvin´s last blog ..New Open! Taipei City Hall Station
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
August 23rd, 2010 at 08:44
Hi, Melvin! Sunglasses. Now, that is a good idea.
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