I'm flying from Auckland, New Zealand, to London for a school tour to Europe. These flights are insanely long (currently don't know where we are transiting). Last time I did this it was 16 hours to Doha and then 7 hours to London. On this trip I couldn't fall asleep at all, so including the times before and after the flights, and doing transit, I was awake for around 40 hours. I just cannot sleep on planes, even melatonin and I didn't sleep at all. This time I need to sleep because we are going on our sightseeing right from the first day. Which sleeping pills would you guys recommend? I don't think antihistamines will work it will have to be an actual sleeping pill or benzodiazepines, like lorazepam (Ativan®) or something. Thoughts? Also for those of you who do use a sleeping pill when do you take it during the flight?

Welcome to Fodors. Don't ask strangers on the internet, ask . . . your doctor.

Plus if it is a school trip it sounds like you may be young, which makes it doubly important to as your doctor.

Yes of course I understand that and I will but I'd also like to hear other people's experiences. My doctor may not have tried them before. Other people on the internet have. So they can tell me about it.

How any medication affects one person has no relevance at all to anyone else. Honest -- for instance melatonin works for many people but apparently not for you. So even if melatonin or valium or OTC sleep aids did work for me, I'd never recommend them for someone else. Ask your doctor . . .

(ps: even though sleeping on a long haul flight is great -- being groggy due to using sleeping meds coldl make one unable to function in an emergency)

I agree with janisj.
Consult your physician.
Pay no mind to what ANY one else says.
Good luck!

I agree that medical advice is best, but I will share my experience. I am also one who doesn't easily sleep on planes, so I used to take sleeping pills. Even with sleeping pills, I barely slept, and I felt terrible after the flight. I have discovered that I feel a lot better upon arrival if I do NOT take them. The best way to beat jet lag is to drink plenty of water and avoid alcohol and caffeine on your flight.

For long trips I try my best to shift my body / mind time zone before I even get on the plane. With 2 long legs and travel half way or more around the world that is difficult.

On the plane, I do my best to minimize stimulation. Caffeine, alcohol, electronic devices. I make myself as comfortable as possible, including loose/stretchy clothing. As soon as it is dark in the cabin, I brush my teeth, and get ready for sleep.

Upon arrival, my routine includes getting lots of fresh air and excercise, vigorous excercise if that's part of your routine. For me it's long walks, and swimming laps.

To avoid headaches, I make sure I drink plenty of fluids & electrolytes, and if needed I'll use some OTC pain reliever like Advil to knock the edge off. For me, benedryl (half a tablet) helps me sleep. Anything more than a half and I wake up groggy.

Ativan is for anxiety foremost, for airplanes it’s more of a help to sleep for flyers uptight about flying. I confess when flying to and from Auckland I used 2 Ativan each way and achieved 2-3 hours of sleep. I’d never slept before on an airplane. In the US anyway it is a schedule IV controlled substance, a level higher than a simple prescription, so you will perhaps have trouble getting more than 5 pills at a time. I found the drug very very subtle and not personally potentially abusable (if that’s a word).

Ativan is not primarily a sleep aid, it didn’t make me drowsy, more blocked out the commotion around me. Anyway you have to go to the doctor to get it.

Well, I agree that asking your physician is ultimately what you should do to get a medication. It’s also not unreasonable to ask others what they have done. People using sleeping pills for long haul flights is common. I think you came here seeking information about what other people do under such circumstances. As such, I think it’s a reasonable request.


Personally, I use 10 mg of zolpidem, which is the generic form of Ambien. This works fine for me.

Having earplugs and an eye mask also helps as does avoiding caffeine and alcohol as noted above. It’s good advice.,

Good luck.

JM2C.

I have not tried any sleeping pills on flights. But I have tried a sleeping pill the first night I arrive at my destination.
Ask your doctor for a mild sleeping pill. There are quite a few. And remember, the names of these pills in NZ/Australia may be different in the USA where a lot of the people on this forum come from.
However, be mindful that while a sleeping pill will help you fall asleep it does not mean that you will stay asleep. You may still wake and finding it hard to nod back off.

Don't get valium.. that is not your answer.

Whatever you decide on, give it a try at home first! Some people have a paradoxical effect to medications, i.e. become hyperactive instead of sleepy, and side effects such as headaches or brain fog the next day are always possible. I have done one of the longest commercial flights possible, Toronto to Perth, which at its shortest is 26 hours, many times. The best answer I've found is to get very old--I no longer have trouble falling asleep sitting up!

good idea about trying it at home first.

Ambien/Zolpidem is known as Stilnox in Australia. Might be the same in NZ.

Maybe not your answer but it is mine, a low dose, half a 5 mg tablet I find just the thing. And have for decades with no after effects whatsoever. But that's why one tries anything before travel.

I was just listening to Stephen Colbert the other night and they had the former PM on the show who is now living in Cambridge, MA doing something at Harvard. She was talking about how easy it was to go to/from NZ as there is a nonstop flight from JFK to Auckland. It's about 17 hrs, which I don't think I could ever do. Which is one reason why I will never visit NZ or Australia. Hawaii isn't even worth it to me (from the East Coast), but I'm not that big on beaches, etc anyway..
But I also have trouble sleeping on long flights, for one thing, I absolutely cannot sleep much at all sitting up, period. I can doze a little but that's it, it's not a long good sleep. I finally splurged and paid by business last trip to Europe (going as it's nighttime), and sleep a bit more as you could lie down flat but it still wasn't as comfortable as a regular bed, not to mention the distractions often of other stuff people are doing. I think part of it is just the mental stuff from a trip, also. I can't even imagine being on a plane that long.

In any case, I have never taken a prescription sleeping pill in my life. I do tend to some insomnia generally but not sure melatonin has done much for me, either. I do sometimes take an antihistamine which I think can help (like Benadryl). But if I really want to be knocked out, I take an OTC sleeping pill, Unisom or generic of same stuff works very well for me. But I am a bit groggy for a while the next day if I use that which is why I rarely do unless I'm desperate. Unisom is doxylamine succinate. In Australia, it is Restavit or Sleep Right.

We must be biochemical twins, MmeP. That's exactly what I use: a half of a 5mg. tablet.

That said, I wouldn't recommend it to anybody who hasn't been prescribed it by their physician. It's not safe for people who consume alcohol or who are taking certain other meds. Or for people with substance-abuse issues. That stuff is powerful.

I'm not recommending medicine to anyone, et alone someone I don't know.
But you asked for experiences.

I've tried a few different medicines to sleep; I don't need them any longer. I just try to limit alcohol consumption; might have a glass of wine with dinner, then I try to refrain. If I were take a pill, I would take it during dinner so I'd be sleepy after dessert. ***Please, don't bother to comment about mixing alcohol and drugs....most of us know all of this.

Valium is good; it should make you sleep if you are not a seasoned user, which I doubt that you are. Good for the longest flights.
Ativan is in a similar class, and is shorter acting. I've taken 10 or 20 mins of that on a flight of longer than 8 hours. It's marketed as an anti-anxiety but can cause sleepiness; same as Valium.

Ambien also good; it's in a different class of the two, above. It's longer acting than the first two, I believe. Can have some odd effects like causing snacking.

In short, if I were to take one, I'd choose Ativan (Lorazepam) and take it with dinner, as long as the flight was 8 hours or more.
I'm not recommending this to anyone; it's just what I do, and have done in the past.

eks, I don't think anybody here is recommending their routine to anyone. That said, I don't think we can be reminded often enough how risky (if not outright dangerous) it can be to mix alcohol with benzodiazapines or even antihistamines. At the very least, alcohol can exacerbate the effect of the benzo, which can be temporarily disorienting/disabling for some people (like me) -- which is not ideal when we land in a foreign city after a 14-hour flight!

eks: Sorry but I think your post could be downright dangerous. The OP hasn't confirmed it yet but because s/he said it is a school trip I'll assume the OP is quite young. Valium, Ativan, Ambien, whatever, with or without alcohol probably shouldn't be recommended or even suggested.

I think what she may take and/or avoid is best determined by her and her PCP. No one here knows her medical history or her age. A school trip could mean older kids too.

In any case as such meds require a prescription let her sort it out with her PCP.

After all, she’s trying to collect information and then take that forward. That would necessitate talking to her primary care provider.