do I sleep on the flight?
It is my first trip to Europe. I leave the westcoast USA at 6PM and arrive in London about 1:00 PM their time. I was told both to take a sleeping tablet on the plane and not to sleep - stay up until late London time. Which works best?
Deb
Beaverton 6/7/09
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I fly from the east coast, but I don't think it will make a great deal of difference. I DO sleep on the plane. We leave around 8:00pm local time and arrive around 9:00am London time. I usually get about 4-5 hours sleep. It's like a late night. My husband usually takes a dramamine and I often have a glass of wine with my meal (he doesn't eat supper on the plane). We get to our hotel around 10:00-10:30 on a good day. We hit the ground running and are usually ready for bed around 10:30pm London time. We seem to adjust with minimal jet lag.
i've never seen anyone here give advice not to sleep, I can't imagine how that would help you. The thing that helped me was to not nap the day I arrived. I forced myself to get outside and wander around and go to bed at a normal time (England time). I arrived in England about the same as you for my first big overnight flight. I woke up ok the next day and the only "aid" i used was a mild antihistamine-type pill, which i'm not convinced does anything for me anyway.
Thanks for the great feedback! I'll try to sleep on the plane then stay vertical until London bedtime. Thanks!
Perhaps you misunderstand the advice. The advice is to sleep ON THE PLANE ( especially from west coast) then NOT sleep once you have landed,, stay up till at least 9 pm,, which is hard as you will be tempted to nap.
I always try to sleep on plane.
Sleep on the plane - this is your night-time. You wouldn't skip a night's sleep at home, why do it on your holiday? Some people drink themselves to sleep, but this is worse on a plane because the effects of the alcohol are greater at altitude (the plane is pressurized to about 1000 m) My advice, avoid caffeine and alcohol on the plane, drink fluids because it's so dry in the cabin and sleep.
Often jet-lag is mistaken for fatigue. The effects of jet-lag can be decreased by being well rested. And once there, never worry about what time is it back home, just get onto London time as soon as possible.
I do plan to sleep on the plane now, and stay up once I arrive until bedtime there. Thanks for the info on caffiene, alcohol, and drinking fluids on the flight. Great tips - thanks!
Sleep on the plane if you can. Getting extra sleep on a trip is always a good idea. I'm afraid that flying and sleeping don't work well for me.
Dav and I have the same problem. I have never been able to "sleep" on a plane. I take occasional naps interrupted by annoying waking. However, I do seem to be able to stay alert and awake for the rest of the day until local bedtime and get a pretty good first night's sleep. I also avoid the caffeine and alcohol and drink juice and water.
When I fly I change my watch to the local time of where I am going. Then I just tell myself that is what time it is. Is your flight direct from I presume Portland - London? You might want to try a product called Simply Sleep. It is made by Tylenol and is essentially Tylenol PM without the pain reliever. Taking that, plus earplugs (or Ipod) to help mask noise should help you sleep. And you are right - staying vertical is necessary when you arrive. I have flown to Europe 3 times in 3 years. Each trip involved changing planes twice and arriving in the morning. First trip I was up past midnight, second and third trips we were in bed by 9:30 or 10:00. Luckily I have not suffered from jet lag. Until I get home anyway... :-)
I try to sleep on the way to Europe but am not always successful, even with Ambien. Discovered on this trip that I can take a whole Ambien, and it works well, and I'm still feeling fine by arrival time.
I can see where it makes sense to stay awake until night time once you get there, but I have found a short nap (1-2 hours max.) in the early afternoon (if you have the opportunity) is helpful. I normally don't sleep particularly well on planes, so that nap keeps me going until 9 at night.
If you use a sleeping pill, make sure know what dose and timing works best for you before your flight. You want to balance getting as much sleep on the plane as possible against being zonked out when you arrive.
Hello:
I am not actually sure if I slept on the plane or spent six hours staring at the inside of my eyelids! Our flight from Vancouver left at 8:30pm and by the time we ate dinner (and I did eat because I hadn't had dinner before the flight and it seemed like the right thing to do) and finished watching our first movie it was 10ish and the flight attendance turned off all the lights, had us all lower the window shades and "try to sleep". My daughter had a window seat so she curled up and slept leaning against the side of the plane. I tried to sleep but everytime the fellow on my right shifted, I woke up (assuming I was actually sleeping). I was worried that I would be exhausted but actually felt great that first day in London. I must have dozed a little bit, because although I did not feel well rested, I didn't feel like I pulled an all nighter either. When we got to our B&B we quickly freshened up and then went for a huge walk along the Thames, saw Big Ben, etc etc.,very excited, very happy. We eventually fell asleep at 10:30 or so but woke up at 4am completely awake. This is the only jet lag I experienced. I could stay awake but I couldn't stay asleep! So: Yes, sleep on the plane, but don't worry too much if you are only dozing (or staring at the inside of your eyelids like I did). And yes, stay awake that first day in London and go go go until as late as possible. And it won't be hard because London is so fantastic.
BTW my daughter was only 7 and she had no problems with jetlag at all.
Walk as much as you can the day you get to London and drink a lot of water. Take self-directed walking tours, it's a good way to get the "lay of the land", and it'll keep you awake, too.
I, too have the same problem as Mr. Tom and Dav, I cannot sleep on the plane (fear of flying...tho I fly cuz I want to travel :). A friend suggested I try "Badger Sleep Balm". It's a lavender & bergamot scented balm with the aim to relax you to sleep. It works really well to help me to sleep on the plane, so that I am less tired when I arrive. I also make sure I get out and start sightseeing once we check into the hotel. Then I go to bed with the local time in mind.
I usually try to adjust my sleep times an hour or two before the trip to help aclimate.
When you arrive at your airport in the US, change your watch to local time in London. Think only in terms of local time there for eating and sleeping. I usually eat a light dinner then try to sleep.
I take one Excedrin PM, which is plenty for me because I never use a sleep-aid any other time. I like the blindfold for the plane and some soft tunes to cover the noise and conversation on the plane. I use a blow up pillow but only partially inflate it to where it's comfortable.
I'm hoping for six hours sleep on the flight.
When I arrive, I stay busy until a decent bed time (hopefully at least 9pm) then get up at a normal time and get moving.
The first day is often a little hazy. The second isn't as bad but you can still feel the effects of jet lag. Usually by the third day, I'm on my new schedule.
It's worse for me going home because I don't have the exitement factor to help me through jet lag.
I always try to sleep on my overnight flights to London. As long as I get 4 hours of some kind of sleep I will at least be somewhat coherent the first day. For instance, If I get into Heathrow at noon UK Time, its about 5 am my time. By the time I get to my hotel, its about 2 pm. I shower and get something to eat. Im usually so excited that I couldnt nap even if I tried. I usually do a few things like take the tube somewhere, say Hello to Big Ben and the Thames, get one of my fav "Thats Life" Cheap and cheesy UK trash magazines, stop at the drugstore and get my toiletries, stop at Tesco and get something to eat for dinner and for the morning, then usually by then its 9 pm and I am completely exhausted when I get back to my hotel. I then go to bed, wake up around 8 am the next morning and im on track the rest of the trip. Coming BACK to the US is the hard part, waking up at 3 am and getting to work early, tired by 2 pm, but its not like its ruining my trip!
I have never managed much more than a few minutes of dozing on a plane. Last summer, for the first time ever, I had no jet lag at all when arriving in Rome. In the days leading up to my trip I set my alarm a bit earlier each day, and went to bed a bit earlier. It worked for me.
On the way to london I eat dinner, and then take three tylenol PM's to get a few hours of sleep. Then I go to bed at 10pm ish in london. On the way home, I take redbull, exercise, and walk around. Stay up all day and flight. By the time I get home and unpacked it's bedtime and I'm beat.
No jet lag on either end.
-Brett
Does the neck pillow that goes around your entire neck help people sleep? I know that I nod forward, and it disturbs me - is this helpful for sleep?
I think the neck pillow helps immensely. I bought a Nap one at Brookstone, and I really like it.
One other thing -- I would not recommend taking 3 Tylenol PMs. I usually take just one, and I could see possibly taking two, but if I took 3, I don't think I could function the rest of the day. It may depend on how much you weigh.
I generally can't sleep on the plane. This trip, I'm going to try what scientists say works for rats: Don't eat for about 16 hours and then eat as soon as the plane lands in London.
Supposedly fasting like this resets one's internal clock. It is a backup safety mechanism when the circadian clock set by exposure to light is overridden by the need to find food. If an animal is hungry, it will be able to adjust to different times in order to forage for food.
My wife thinks I'm nuts. She says she could never go that long without food, but all this means for me is that I eat breakfast on the day we travel and then not eat anything until the next "morning." I think I can do it.
I cant go that long with no food. I just know that the sunlight will help your body clock reset. Even with little sleep on the plane, i go out all day and go to sleep that night and am on track the next morning. Never had jetlag yet. I think taking a nap when you get there will hamper your body from resetting its inner clock.
Another thing you can try is to start shifting your activities ahead of time. Start a week before, if you can. Get up, eat meals, and go to bed an hour earlier each day. We tried that before our last trip, and I think it helped.
Here are some other tips for sleeping on planes. I find that it really helps to have an eye shade and to use ear plugs. Even though the plane is dark, the movie is running and there people moving about. Wearing the eye shade tells people that you are sleeping. I also find that it helps to have a bottle of water as I often get thirsty in the night. Pam
Paul,, sounds like a good way to mess up with your blood sugars,, I think I would just plain old faint away... My doctor said to maintain good blood sugar levels one should aim to go no more then 4-6 hours without food( does not mean stuff yourself) .. unless you are sleeping of course!
We took a 9pm flight from Seattle to London nonstop with British Airways last fall. I slept a good 4 or 5 hours on the flight, and we landed at 2:30pm at Heathrow the next day. We got to our apartment just before 5pm and by 6pm we'd unpacked and were out the door to walk around and see a little bit of London. We had dinner at Pret at 6:30pm and went to Victoria Station to the tourist office (which turned out to be tiny and not really worth it). By 8pm we were feeling pretty tired and took a shower just before 9pm and went to bed by 10pm. We were wide awake by 5am the next morning!! And got up for breakfast at 7am and were out the door just before 9am to go to the British Museum by bus. It was great to be out early in the morning!
Because I fly from Newark to Heathrow on a regular basis, I have a different problem. The flying time is too short to have a decent sleep! I usually leave about 9:30 pm EST and by the time you finish the dinner service, etc., there is really very little time left! My last flight was actually 5 1/2 hours!!
I might doze off a bit but no actual good sleep. The next thing you know they are serving breakfast!
But I have always managed to keep going the whole day in London until normal local bed time. From then on, I am fine!
One tip: avoid alcohol on the flight and buy a bottle of water before boarding to keep hydrated.
I suffer terrible jetlag after the return home probably because my flight departs Heathrow at 4 pm. so by the time I get home it is after midnight London time and I can never get to sleep right away. I can never understand how people can go to work the next day!
I have the same problem, Maryann! By the time i get back to Denver, its 5 pm, which is really midnight to my UK time brain. Then I cant sleep because im excited and in a weird fog because im home, and the first time I actually went to work the next day and I wanted to die. Last time, I took the day off afterwards.
Also, does anyone else notice this weird phenomenon of still feeling like youre on a plane even when youre finally home? I mean after a non stop 9 hour flight I still feel like im moving somewhat for a day. Maybe im just weird but it happened to me both times already!
Fabulous tips, tricks, experiences and advice everyone - thanks for sharing!
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