Need to sleep on overnight flight...what to take.
 

I have an overnight flight from NY to Scotland in a couple of weeks. What will help me knock out on the flight?

You need to talk to your doctor. What works for one of us might not work for you - or might even be dangerous.

Do you mean drugs?

If you want prescription drugs, you would have to get a prescription from your doctor anyway, so might as well ask him/her what would be best. If nonprescription, you can try something -- my niece just took a regular OTC sleeping pill, Sominex or Unisom or whatever, on a long flight and said that helped. Those drugs can be similar to those cold medications that make you drowsy, also.

No sure that I woud ever want to be "knocked out" on a plane.

Dozing yes - but not out for the count - in case something happens.

Is missing a few hours sleep (which is all you will have time for) really that big a deal. (And many things that an MD might gve you will keep you groggy even after the flight has landed.

Also, to state the obvious, try out whatever you decide on at home first. You may have a bad reaction - better to experience that in your own bed than half way across the pond.

That flight isn't that long to be knocked out.

Of course the MD whose name is on the bottle, who carries responsibility, and who knows your medical issues will have the say.

That said, since you asked for feedback, I find (for me) that Ambien (5 mg give me 4 hours), has quick drop off and quick wake up without hangover. Of course you wouldn't use it if you are going to drink alcohol.

I know some prefer over the counter stuff like Nyquil Benadryl but I agree with above poster that for east coast to Europe flight, after settling in and having a meal there isn't a ton of quiet time left, and these cold remedies seem to have a longer half-life.

A bottle of red wine works fine for me, and it requires no prescription.

Depending on your airplane seat, you may not want to be knocked out, because you may want to get up and walk around to avoid blood clots due to sitting scrunched up for hours. This comforted me on my San Francisco-Paris trip, since I couldn't sleep for more than an hour at a time anyway.

Because this is a short flight, you'll want something that's fairly short-acting. Talk to your physician---he/she is the best person to advise you on this. I use Ambien and it works nicely for me, even on these fairly short flights, but YMMV.

If you do decide to take something, you can maximize your in-flight sleep time by doing the following:

1. Eat dinner before you board. Yes, you'll miss the meal for which you've paid, but rest assured that you are, in fact, missing absolutely nothing in the way of culinary highlights. Bring some sort of small snack just in case you wake up early and are hungry. Ideally your stomach will have pretty much emptied by the time you're ready to take your med.

2. Take your med as soon as you've reached cruising altitude. Make sure that you're already comfortable (bladder empty, waistband loosened if you've got one, blanket positioned under your seatbelt so that flight attendants don't have to disturb you to tell you to fasten it).

3. If you're in an aisle seat, warn the person next to you that you'll be pretty sleepy, and that if he/she needs to get out to just climb over and not worry about waking you. He/she can also reassure the flight attendant that you really, really aren't interested in the meal.

4. Because the rest of the plane will be doodling around with dinner service for quite a while, consider using eye shades and ear plugs to keep from being distracted by the activity. Eye shades send a very clear signal that you are sleeping (or trying to sleep) and don't want to be bothered.

I can't sleep on airplanes. Some people simply are unable to.

That said, I use Xanax or Valium as prescribed by my doctors (anti-anxiety meds) to help pass the time.

Whatever you are contemplating try it at home ahead of time. For example the OTT sleep-aids make me horribly "wired" and ill feeling.

You can help your cause by having a pillow and blanket, use eye-shades, wear earplugs or headphones with quiet music, etc.

I don't sleep well on airplanes and must use a battery of aids if I hope to sleep. Going to Europe is a long trip for me since I live on the west coast.

I use an eye mask and earpugs. I generally take a couple of Benadryl and a mild tranquilizer. When I do this, I certainly don't zonk out, even with those aids, but I do catnap, so I'm able to function after I arrive in Europe and don't have to nap before I enjoy the day.

lobo_mau,

I tried that approach flying Toronto-Nice some years ago. Hangover+jetlag is not a combination for appreciating life in general and Europe in particular. ;)

Knickerbocker,
I'm affraid I have to disagree with you. Getting hanged up and jet lagged in different days doesn't sound an optimal usage of time :-)

I agree with some of the other posters in saying that the flight isin't that long. But 3 drinks and 1 Ambien will do the trick (advice of a friend). I can usually get 4 hrs in on a long haul flight. I usually take some excedrin PM and a couple of glasses of wine.

Excedrin PM is very nasty stuff for some people. That's *exactly* what I was referring to above. I would be bouncing off the ceiling of the plane if I took it.

I'm all for drinks but 3 drinks + an Ambien is NOT advice I would follow unless you want to be VERY sick.

lobo_mau,

But on the same day? Hooo boy! :)

A friend drove me to the airport and shared a drink before the flight and then of course there was the free wine during the flight. Not a pretty sight I must say.

I fall somewhere between lobo-mau and Therese. This routine works like a charm for me.

1) Get to the airport in PLENTY of time. Check in any extra bags...and now you can relax.

2) Go to one of the better airport restaurants for HOT soup with a glass of red wine. (The soup shouldn't be too salty.) Sometimes I even get a second glass of wine.

3) Head to your boarding area. Read a book...anything to relax you. By now I;m usually yawning like crazy.

4) Once on the plane, I take a couple of Tylenol PMs. Change into comfy sock slippers. Sleep mask, ear plugs, and either my book or ipod.

I'm usually asleep by takeoff. No meal...I carry a snack like cheese, nuts and apple. I often wake up an hour or so before breakfast is served. A good time to walk and stretch.

I have never suffered jet lag since I started using this routine several years ago.

I agree with JeanneB. I eat something soothing in the airport before leaving, take a couple of Tylenol Simply Sleep as soon as I'm buckled in and am sometimes snoozing before take-off. I find it's much easier to go to sleep before the dinner is served and movie is on, they both distract me and wake me up. I also bring an eye mask.

Good luck!

Tylenol keeps me awake! My doctor gave me a prescription for Lunesta, which I tried at home first, and it works like a charm for me. It doesn't leave me at all groggy, and I awaken easily from it. I take one on the plane, and then I take one when I go to bed the first night after arrival. It prevents me from awakening in the wee small hours and not being able to go back to sleep, and so by Day 2 I'm really good to go.

I'm also one of those people who, without sleep aids, finds it best to take a short nap the day of arrival and then eat an early dinner and go to bed at the bedtime of the country I'm visiting. Staying up all the first day makes me overtired and unable to sleep well.

As others have said, you just have to figure out what works for you.

I tried an ambien, prescribed, on my last trip JFK to CDG. I took it soon after reaching about 30,000'. At that point if the plane goes down, well.... Dinner was served. DW tells me that I ate it. DW tells me that I liked it. I have no recollection. Woke up about an hour before landing with no jet lag at all and no anti-histamine hangover.

I'm another one who never slept on the plane and used to get annoyed just looking at my DH, who was snoozing as the plane took off!

Finally figured out what would work for me:

- Ate at the airport (love the hot soup and wine idea. I'll try that next time).

- Took two Tylenol PM just before boarding.

- Used an eye mask and ear plugs.

- Wrap up in my pashmina, plump my little down travel pillow (BTW, the best thing ever invented. It opens into a down-filled, cotton covered, zippered cover for large pillows once you are in your hotel/apartment. Restoration Hardware).

Lean on the DH and I'm off to sleep. It only works for a couple of hours (for me), but it's better than nothing at all.

Believing that drugs will only maks the problem of jetlag, a different take on this.

Since the issue is that your internal clock will be out by 5 horus when you land, just taking drugs may make you sleep on th eplane, but you will land and your body will be on NY time.

So..my solution is on the nights leading up to your flight you go to bed earlier and earlier, and getting up earlier and earlier. So not only are you adjusting your internal clock to the local Scottish time, but when you do get on the plane, your body will already feel likes it's time to go to bed, making it easier to sleep on the plane. No coffee, no wine, no movie, maybe dinner. Put on headset and listen to relaxing music.zzzzzz

When you land, your time to adjust will be much shorter.

I don't take anything to sleep. I like to 'settle' into my seat, watch the movie, eat some dinner, then I'll lay my head down, pull my 'pashmina' over my head and doze. I don't think I ever actually go into a sleep pattern, but I wake up for breakfast, spruce up in the loo, and I'm good to go until 9-10pm that night. I think one becomes immune to jet lag after making the trip a few times.

Xanax.

Here ((D)) ((D))

Another vote for Xanax.

Some of you folks sound quite smug about how it isn't that long a flight to Europe. The west coast is nine hours behind most of Europe.

Getting a flight out of Seattle or Portland, then changing planes on the east coast after a layover in Newark or Chicago for a couple of hours, and finally a five or six hour flight to Europe--that's an endurance trial!

If you can be alert on landing after a couple hourse sleep, you're amazing.

I have always found the wine to be sufficient on eastbound evening flights.

But I am one of those who wonders why one would want to be knocked out.

Even if you do not sleep a wink on such a flight, it is not a catastrophe, and you would recover before long. There are no awards to win on transatlantic travel for the most refreshed arrival.

Over-the-counter drugs often have the opposite effect on me, too. If you need to take something, I'd recommend getting a prescription. They go down a lot smoother.

I'd also recommend drinking lots of water and avoiding alcohol in order to keep hydrated. Speaking for myself, I'd rather be a bit tired or jeglagged than have my face look bloated.

another vote for no medication. It just messes my system up more than lack of sleep does.

- DEF eat dinner before boarding. Fill that belly to avoid the dinner service. (backup snacks are always appreciated when I wake up and are served some nasty breakfast food! - I'd rather eat my ziplock of pretzels, or Cheerios, or graham crackers).

- do things that wind you down... I put the Ipod on, contacts out early, and try lots of deep breathing and ignoring things around me.

- the next day is just as important. I've found I adjust best when I get outside. Not a tour bus ride, but a brisk walk through a park. Avoid sit down meals and get sandwiches which can be eaten on the fly. If you can check in early, a shower and change of clothes does wonders!!! My best 'avoid jetlag' day was when we walked 18 holes of golf after arriving. We felt great! Then a nice big meal and we barely stumbled home to fall asleep.

- most importantly, don't overthink it. Just simplify it.

I wear my sunglasses on the plane and while my sister thought I was going for an air of mystery, it really just helped me sleep...

Hi,

Last trip from NJ to Frankfurt I took Nyquil and used ear plugs. Funny, when I have a cold, Nyquil "puts me out" at home, but didn't do the same on the plane. It did help me rest, relax and I did manage to doze off for about 2 hours.

Paul

Hi Pegontheroad, have a heart!! We live in Sydney - now that's a long distance haul. Sydney to Europe - 24 hours usually!! We do approx 7 hours to Singapore/Bangkok (hang around there for a few hours) and then another 13 hours to where ever in Europe we are going. It gets reversed on the way home obviously. Talk about head spinning jetlag! the trip over is ok thank goodness, but when we get home we are 'out to lunch' for about 3 days. I find I actually feel dizzy and slightly nauseous for several days.

<<Some of you folks sound quite smug about how it isn't that long a flight to Europe. The west coast is nine hours behind most of Europe. >>

The OP specifically referred to a NY to Europe flight.

West Coast to Europe I agree is a longer schlep, with more of a time zone change, though we usually stop off at NY or Atlanta.

When flying from SF to Europe directly, or to New Zealand (11-12 hours nonstop), we really have to get the same 4 hours or so in to keep going on the first day.

Coming back is harder for us. No chance to sleep/light the whole way, and a long stopover on the east coast.

<<No sure that I woud ever want to be "knocked out" on a plane.

Dozing yes - but not out for the count - in case something happens.>>

I like to be concious for take off and landing but to be honest if anything goes wrong in the air I'd rather be knocked out.

I find a couple of glasses of red wine does the trick.

Oops
sorry forgot to add

Cathies - I find using the pool at Changi (Singapore) airport helps a lot. Particularly on the Europe to Oz leg. Get off the plane, head for the pool, relax in nice warm water for 30 mins. It does wonders.

I am surprised that no one seems to mention Benadryl. Non-prescription and not dangerous, and helps with sinus/cabin pressurization issues as well. One Benadryl will give me 3 or 4 hours of sleep on a flight.

I'm with Cathies - These poor diddums who think a 5-6 hour trans Atlantic flight is the end of the world. 24 hours to get to London OR New York - add on pre-flight and post flight times etc - we are travelling for up to 36 hours.

Anyhow, I use melatonin.

That's a good idea Sashh, thanks for the tip. Next time I will do that. A swim would also be a good way to stretch out and get a little exercise. thanks, Cathie