For most of us, the prospect of a long-haul flight is exciting, but also a bit nerve-wracking. We’re on our way to a different place, perhaps on vacation, or to reconnect with friends or family.
Even working can be more interesting when you’re in a new place.
Of course, you want to arrive rested and ready to go. But by its very definition, a long-haul flight involves traveling for a long period of time, usually more than 12 hours.
If you’re traveling from New York to Singapore, it can be close to 19 hours.
All that time you’re confined to a supposedly reclining seat, but one feels like it barely moves, while the seat in front of you seems to recline ten times as much as yours.
What can you do to get a decent rest?
Accept the situation
The first tip for sleeping in this environment is to lower your expectations a bit. Humans are simply not designed to sleep in a near-vertical position.
Unless you are lucky enough to fly in a class where the seat can be placed horizontally, it is highly unlikely that you will get off the plane having slept for eight hours straight.
Research by colleagues and myself has shown that pilots – who have a bunk to sleep in during their in-flight breaks – sleep lightly and fragmented.
Even though they don’t get much quality sleep, you can rest assured that our research also shows that pilots are still very good at their jobs during a long-haul flight.
This, coupled with other findings from various laboratory studies, tells us that even a few hours of light sleep has its benefits.
So, even if you can’t get your usual eight hours of sleep during the flight, a little sleep will help you feel good and function better at your destination.
Also, we’re not good at judging how much sleep we get, particularly during light, interrupted sleep. So it’s likely that you’ve slept more than you think.
Calculate your sleep and drinks
The timing of your flight, and your alcohol and caffeine intake will have a direct impact on your ability to sleep on the plane.
Assuming you are adapted to the time zone from which the flight departs, daytime flights will make it much more difficult to sleep on the plane, while nighttime flights will make it easier.
All humans have a circadian (24-hour) timing system that schedules us to sleep at night and be awake during the day. Being asleep (or awake) against this biological timing system presents significant challenges.
Our alertness naturally decreases in the middle of the afternoon, making this a good time to try to sleep on a daytime flight.
On a night flight, it will be easier to sleep after dinner is served. Otherwise you will be fighting the noises, light and movement of people around you.
As a stimulant, caffeine helps us stay alert. Even if you are a regular coffee drinker and can fall asleep after consuming caffeine, your sleep will be lighter and you will wake up more easily.
Alcohol, on the other hand, makes us sleepy but interferes with the brain’s ability to enter REM sleep (also known as dream sleep).
Although you may feel that you fall asleep more easily after drinking alcohol, your sleep will be more disturbed once your body metabolizes the alcohol and tries to regain the REM sleep it lost.
What if I take melatonin or other drugs?
Some people find that taking a sleeping pill or melatonin can help them on a flight. This is a very personal choice. Before taking any sleeping medication or melatonin you should consult with a doctor, and only take what you are prescribed.
Many sleep medications do not allow for normal sleep and can make you feel groggy or sleepy after waking up.
It is important to remember that melatonin is a hormone that our brain uses to tell us that it is nighttime. Melatonin can help you sleep, but depending on when and how much you take, it can change your circadian clock.
This could move you even further away from being aligned with your destination time zone.
Taking melatonin in your biological afternoon and evening will shift your circadian timing system eastward (or earlier) and taking it toward the end of your biological evening and morning and push your circadian system westward (or later). It all gets complicated very quickly.
Prepare your clothes and accessories
Be prepared so that you can create the best possible sleeping situation within the confines of your seat.
Wear comfortable layers of clothing so you can take things off if you are hot or put on if you are cold, and keep your blanket and don’t lose it under your seat.
Light and noise disrupt sleep, so wear an eye mask and earplugs (or a noise-canceling headset) to block them out. Practice with both of these items at home, as it can take time to get used to using them.
A normal and necessary part of the process of falling asleep is relaxation, including that of our neck muscles.
As we sit up, this means that our heavy heads will no longer have good support, which causes that awful nodding most of us have experienced.
Try propping your head up with a neck pillow, or if you sit by the window, with the wall of the plane. Unless you know the person sitting next to you, propping their head up is not a good option.
Try not to force it
Finally, if you wake up and find it hard to go back to sleep, don’t insist.
Take advantage of the in-flight entertainment. This is one of the few occasions when scientists will tell you it’s okay to turn to technology, and watch a movie or many episodes of a TV series, or, if you prefer, listen to music or read a good book.
When you get sleepy, you can try sleeping again, but don’t stress or worry about getting enough sleep.
Our brains are very good at sleeping, trust your body to make up for what it lacks when it can.