Proven Ways to Sleep on long haul flights naturally
Everyone can sleep on long haul flights naturally without any sleep induced medication or alcohol. I actually recommend everyone to not take any substance to assist you with sleeping because it can be long term damaging to your health including increased risk of cancer. As for alcohol, it may make you feel a bit sleepy at first but in the end, alcohol triggers your need to “relieve” yourself and that will disturb your sleep. This list of how to sleep on long haul flights naturally was gathered based on my own personal experience of regularly flying and strategies from other travelers.
Sidenote: If you are one of the lucky ones that can sleep anywhere at any time without any problems, feel free to skip this article.
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Why can’t some people sleep on long haul flights?
Based on my experience and reading other travelers’ experiences, it all comes down to comfort and preparedness. Sleeping while sitting up is not a position some people can do. For most people an uncomfortably sore neck is the result of trying to sleep while sitting right up. For other people, it could be the noisy environment of the airplane rumbling or the chatter of passengers around them. Some people also have sleeping issues on long haul flights due to the lighting of the cabin or the entertainment screen of the person next to them.
For the reasons mentioned above, here are products and strategies you can use so you can sleep on long haul flights naturally.
What you should do:
Drink water
If you feel thirsty, drink water and avoid all the other kinds of drinks offered. Pure water has no caffeine, sugar, alcohol, Vitamin B or other ingredients that will affect your sleep. Water will also keep you hydrated the best so you will less likely to disturbed and wake up due to dehydration.
I recommend bringing an empty water bottle to the airport and filling that up at the gate. Collapsing water bottles like the one below is my top recommendation due to it being easily collapsible to fit in your pocket or bag and it carries a decent amount of water.
Top Pick For Collapsible Water Bottle
Wear an eye mask
An eye mask can help a lot especially if the cabin lighting is too bright or someone is watching a movie next to you and their screen feels like the sun illuminating across your face. The best part about an eye mask is that in most long haul flights, it is free and given out to every passenger. Be sure to do your research to make sure your flight has a free eye mask included with the ticket.
Wear comfortable, soft, and loose clothing
You don’t sleep wearing stiff or tight clothing to sleep every night in your house do you? So you shouldn’t do the same when you’re on a long haul flight. To help you sleep on long haul flights naturally, carefully select your most comfortable and softest clothing you have in your closet.
Do you have clothing that feels loose, soft and with cloud-like dreamy comfort? Wear that abroad on your long haul flight.
Clothing I would avoid are stiff jeans, multilayered clothing, tight shoes, suit and an oversized metal watch.
Bring a quality neck support pillow
A quality neck support pillow will be one of your key ingredients to a restful sleep during your long haul travels. Doesn’t matter what brand or model but your neck support pillow needs to be able to hold your neck into a position for hours so you can fully let go of your body. Because of the importance of a quality neck support pillow, I covered it with more detail.
Here are key characteristics to look for in a neck support pillow:
Ergonomic Design
The shape of the pillow should support your neck’s natural curve. This plays an important role in eliminating or reducing your neck pain for extended periods of sitting. Within the neck support pillow, the filling they use should have enough support to maintain proper alignment of your neck. Lastly, a good neck support pillow with ergonomic design should be adjustable to your own unique neck and head shape. Some people have bigger or longer necks than others and that neck support pillow needs to account for the differences in shape and sizes.
Noiseless
We all move when we sleep and your neck support pillow needs to be noiseless or else you will be annoyed by the natural movement of your body. The best neck support pillow to purchase will keep noise to a minimum when you are adjusting or moving around naturally during your sleep.
Compact
On the market, there are pillows that are simply too large and even though they can help you sleep on a long haul flight naturally, large pillows should be avoided. When it’s meal time or if you would like to watch a movie, putting a large neck support pillow aside is such a hassle on a tight airplane cabin. Bringing these behemoths will likely add stress to your long haul flight and should be avoided.
Top Picks For Neck Support Pillow
Cabeau Evolution S3 Travel Neck Pillow
Exercise before the flight
Exercising is not only good for your body but it can also make you feel tired naturally without any medication. Before your long haul flight, a simple way to increase your chances of sleeping is to exercise before your flight. I remember my friend went to the gym for his daily workout just before the flight and he was knocked out easily for a couple of hours while his body recovers for his exercising activities.
Bring earplugs or noise canceling headphones
An earplug or noise canceling headphones will be a great additional to your toolkit to sleeping on a long haul flight. An earplug is usually offered free from the airlines when you are on a long haul flight. If you have extra money to spend, a good noise canceling headphones will help as well. Be sure to read reviews on people who test different models out and select the best one for your situation and budget.
Turn on night mode or warm mode on your phone or Kindle devices
An hour before your flight, enable night mode or warm mode on your electronic devices such as your phone or kindle devices. This removes the harsh blue light on the screen and instead presents us with an orange, warm tone that can assist us with sleeping faster.
What you should avoid doing:
Avoid alcohol
Many people recommend drinking alcohol before a flight to assist you in sleeping but they are absolutely wrong. This is bad advice. I would recommend you NOT to drink alcohol because it triggers your need to go to the bathroom as your body is trying to process alcohol. You can’t get a restful sleep if you need to wake up several times to go to the lavatory.
Avoid eating gassy foods
Some of us are lactose intolerant or have trouble digesting other foods. These kinds of food that contain any ingredients that don’t do well in our stomach should be avoided. It will make us gassy, stinking up the place and also keep you in alert with your stomach rumbling and that sudden urge to use the lavatory. The worst part after you are up and rushing to the lavatory to do your business is that there is a long line. Now you must wait your turn in pain.
Avoid sleep assist medication
Any medication that assists with sleeping is not healthy in the long term and should be avoided. It is possible to sleep on long haul flights naturally. A quick Google search shows long term use of sleep assist medication could have some serious drawbacks on your health.
Avoid caffeinated drinks or drinks with high sugar
This one is common sense but I thought I needed to add it here. Avoid any caffeinated drinks or sugary drinks such as soda, juice, energy drinks that will keep you awake on your long haul flight.
Key Takeaways
You can sleep on long haul flights naturally by preparing yourself to sleep on a plane and keeping in mind the difference of environment you must work with in comparison to sleeping on your big comfy bed at home.The main difference is that you will be sleeping upright and you need an adequate neck support pillow. Besides a quality neck support pillow, drinking water, wearing an eye mask, having ear plugs/noise canceling headphones, exercising before your flight, wearing loose clothing and turning on your electronic screens to warm mode/night mode will assist you in sleeping.
On the flip side, avoid alcohol, problematic foods, sleep assist medication and caffeinated/sugary drinks.
