The last thing you want to be doing on your holiday after a long flight is recovering from it for the first few days of your long-awaited holiday, so getting those precious hours of shuteye during the flight is essential.
Unfortunately getting to sleep mid-flight can be next to impossible for some people. From research and personal experience this article has been created to help you find the easiest way to get to sleep.
What to Bring on Board:
- Noise Cancelling Head Phones
- Ear Plugs
- Blanket
- Water Bottle
- Music Player
- Travel Pillow
- Sleeping Mask
- Books/Magazines
Pre-Flight
Routine is King
The excitement and distraction of having to go to an airport and get on a flight can upset your sleeping patterns.
To avoid that you need to stick to routine. Sure, you may be in an airport or taxi when you should being doing a specific activity but if you’re able to maintain the motions, chances are you’re going to trick your body into going to sleep on the flight just through muscle memory of your routines.
Other routines to consider include – brushing your teeth, reading a book, having a herbal tea etc. Anything that you normally associated with your bedtime routine should be worked into your flight schedule.
Dress Smart
There’s plenty of debate out there as to how you should dress for your flight. Some say you should always be presentable – suits for business etc – as flights provide plenty of opportunities to mix and mingle with others.
However when you’re on a red-eye flight and all you’re thinking about is getting some shut-eye, a suit is the last piece of clothing you’d want to wear. So sticking with loose fitting, comfortable and breathable clothing such as sportswear or sweatpants will be enough to make you feel comfortable enough to fall asleep.
Look to add a snug fit around your calves or purchase some compression stockings to help avoid deep vein thrombosis (DVT), which is caused by restriced blood flow.
Get Tired
A quick trick is to avoid your recommended 8 hours of sleep and instead go for 4 – 5 hours. This will undoubtly make you grumpy and unpleasent to be around for the majority of the day, but it’ll provide you with an easy sleep during your flight.
Another option would be to have an intense workout in the morning. Not only do you get the endorphins of the workout, you also get tired making it incredibly easy to fall asleep, opt for a small high-carb meal to make you that extra bit sleepy.
Stretch it Out
We all get that nagging feeling when we just need to get up an stretch. A simple stretch or yoga session before your flight will be enough to make you feel amazing but also minimises any pains or aches you may have.
In-Flight
Swap Neck Pillow Positioning
Flip the script with this one! Live life on the edge of conformity and experience another dimension – place your neck pillow below your chin. This simple sleeping hack will save you a flight of head rocking and a disturbed sleep.
Make a Foot Rest
Your leg and foot positioning in-flight should be of maximum concern on any flight. There’s a lot of difference in comfort when it comes to the positioning of your feet, you can help yourself by simply using your hand luggage as your footrest.
You’ll find that playing with different angles of elevation will make for a far more pleasant flight once your posture is perfect.
Avoid Light
Whilst in-flight movies are one of the most looked forward to parts of the journey, they can also be a massive distraction that throws you off your sleep.
By avoiding light from phones, tablets and laptops etc. you’ll find that your sleep is far less distracted.
White Noise
There’s nothing enjoyable about the roaring engines keeping you away from your precious sleep. The best and most pleasurable solution (it’s my personal favorite) is to play white noise through noise cancelling headphones.
Studies have found that white noise, raindrops or the crashing ocean waves for example, can also aid with better sleep.
Avoid the Snack Cart
High sugar, salt or alcohol intake before a flight can really wreak havoc on your sleeping patterns. Unfortunately, that means you need avoid most of the snack cart.
However, by having a high carb based meal before your flight, something to make you feel a little sleepy, you will find that dozing off almost becomes second nature. Think of that big meal you have and instantly need to sleep straight after!
Bonus – Staying Connected
Just because you’re having some down time during your flight it, unfortunately, doesn’t mean the rest of the world is on the same wavelength as you.
Once you’ve landed you will need to orientate yourself, check latest updates and so on. Tep Wireless provides that consistent Wi-Fi delivery that we all struggle with then abroad.
With Tep, you can land, connect your phone and start to orientate yourself with the new surroundings instantly. Making calling an Uber incredibly efficient!
