Sleeping on planes

Bonjour tout le monde,

I am a light sleeper at the best of times. I find myself thoroughly unable to get any shut-eye on flights. I have tried to kip on some long-haul flights but never get more than a quick doze. As soon as I'm about to fall into proper sleep I just wake up again.

In the near future I will be travelling to Europe and this time I don't want to get there all tired and cranky. I've heard people say that to encourage better sleep one should avoid alcohol, but I'm damned if I'm not having a glass of red with my meal! I'm not really keen on sleeping drugs but might consider taking a drowsy antihistamine (Phenergan). The trouble is I tend to be slow for the next half a day after dropping one of them. If I knew of a herbal solution I'd give it a go.

So what are your tips for a good night's kip on a plane, folks?

bonjour!

i am exactly the same, i can never sleep on flights. recently i flew from Adelaide to Atlanta, USA. Total flying and transit time of around 30 hours, i slept for like 2 hours!! i just cant sleep on flights, one time i even took 2 or 3 sleeping tablets, which again i only slept for 2 or 3 hours....

and there is no way im not having a alcohol drink or two, ive resigned to the fact that whenever i fly long haul, i just wont sleep, thank goodness in the advancements of entertainment systems and your own tv on flights!

update....

I went to see the quack today on an unrelated matter. While there I asked her what she'd recommend to help sleeping on a flight. She promptly wrote me a script for temazepam. According to her these are fairly lightweight and don't give much of a 'hangover' afterwards. Not sure if I'll take them yet. I might try one a week before I leave and see how I feel afterwards. Hopefully their usage won't preclude that glass of red with my dinner.

Francophile wrote:update....

I went to see the quack today on an unrelated matter. While there I asked her what she'd recommend to help sleeping on a flight. She promptly wrote me a script for temazepam. According to her these are fairly lightweight and don't give much of a 'hangover' afterwards. Not sure if I'll take them yet. I might try one a week before I leave and see how I feel afterwards. Hopefully their usage won't preclude that glass of red with my dinner.

Might be worth asking your doctor or the health centre to give you proof that they prescibed that drug. It's pretty strongly controlled in Europe due to it's 'street value'. Hopefully that would avoid the possiblity of customs taking them off you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temazepam (see 'Legal status' near bottom of page)

Regards
JAS