How to sleep on a long haul flight | Hacker News Reader

How to sleep on a long haul flight

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87 pointsjgrahamc69 comments

I fly short distances quite a lot which have no meals and require no preparations. Over the years, the experience has gotten so boring that I usually fall asleep during taxing or takeoff.

Long-haul still has me going giddy with excitement at how this massive metal construction can ever get up into the air, that makes it harder to get some sleep. :-) A neck pillow is the best investment I've ever made there though, it stops you from waking up when your head falls forward.

Also, I'm disturbed by the amount of people who simply don't know how to pop their ears and sit and try to swallow or rub their ears or whatever else crap they're doing. Just hold your nose, blow out, done.

I had trouble equalizing my ears for a long time. Then I took some SCUBA diving training where the hold-nose-blow-out method is the first thing they tell you. They should put that in the little packets they put in the back of the seats.

Holding your nose & blowing out can hurt you if you have small eustachian tubes. Trust me on this one.

I pop my jaw instead, works better and doesn't add to the congestion and pain.

Or suck on a boiled sweet.

...or hard candy, as Americans call them. ;)

Unfortunately, being immobile for an entire long-haul flight severely increases your risk of clotting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_class_syndrome). For people with a predisposition to clotting, this advice could kill them.

A friend of mine takes Bayer on long hauls due to its blood thinning properties. Not sure if that's proper medical advice, but...

Aspirin is recommended to prevent blood cloths on planes. You should also wiggle your toes and flex your legs at least once an hour. My brother, who has had a blood clot, gets up and walks the length of the plane and back at least as often.

Any statistics on the actual frequency of death due to DVT? All I remember is that I never heard of it until a few years ago, then there was a sudden spate of well-publicised cases, and nowadays I never hear of it any more except in the little movies which airlines insist on playing me in order to reduce their liability.

I don't have statistics off hand, except that I read somewhere that 10% of people get some kind of blood clot on a transatlantic flight, but most of them dissolve on their own quickly.

Anecdotally though, it's the only thing that's afflicted anyone young that I know personally, and three people very close to me have had them in their 20s. (only one was a blood relative, so it's not just genetics). All of the people I know had substantial risk factors for them, smoking, birth control pills, or long flights. Which are also relatively common things, and enough to scare me.

My brother had his first one in 2001, before the media blitz about it, and doctors were very surprised by it. But they seemed to notice a pattern of young, highly athletic people getting them in the year or two after that. One theory was that bruises on the legs create a conducive environment to clot formation.

Also, although none of the people I know have died, it has substantially lowered their quality of life. Their clots won't totally go away, so some of them are on blood thinners for life which restrict what activities they can do, and are very expensive. And one of them has to have surgery to install filters in his legs.

The window seat is key. You don't get people with thimble bladders constantly stepping past you, and you can sort of lean against the wall of the plane as well.

For me, it's usually just a glass or two of red wine at the airport bar before takeoff, and maybe another on the plane. I'm not much of one for taking off my shoes or getting half undressed on the plane.

I also make it a habit to generally not talk to any seatmates or introduce myself. Leads to the possibility of someone thinking it's an open invitation to talk/pester you the entire flight.

All good advice but, alas, it doesn't work if you are the one with the thimble bladder. Which correlates with age and various medical issues such as hypertension for which diuretics are prescribed. (I speak from experience.)

In that case, you really want an aisle seat within two rows of a toilet block, so you can stumble to the loo and back without having to fully wake up.

That's a win-win then :)

I'll take a window seat if available, but it infuriates me that the arm rest between the window seat and the sidewall of the airplane DOES NOT MOVE. Space is so precious on airplanes that I can pay an extra $50 for 2 more inches, but I can't use the 4-6 inches between me and a wall? (I wish I had a multi-tool handy.)

I always take the aisle because (i) you have the freedom to walk about, go to the restroom, etc. anytime you like and (ii) you can steal some space by jutting your knees slightly to the aisle.

The no meals thing/only sleep thing works for 10 hour flights but not for 20+ (Europe/US - Australia). For really long haul flights, do all of what he said, but only at "night time", i.e., when they dim the lights for you to sleep. Eat and drink (water only, and drink a lot of it, you'll need the excuse of going to the bathroom to get off your butt and walk around on the plane and get the circulation going a bit, also it's easy to get dehydrated on long haul flights) whenever it's offered, though you can probably miss snacks if you're sleeping.

I always end up tired when I arrive, but I've usually had close to 10-12 hrs sleep at various points on the plane trip, so I've "had" enough sleep, it's just the exhaustion of the actual travel and jet lag.

Then the biggest thing for jet lag is, keep busy for the rest of the day and go to bed "normally", i.e. when it's the actual time to go to bed in the new place; usually that'll kick the jet lag pretty quickly.

My additional simple trick:

Arrive for the flight tired. I would rather sleep less the night before and be able to get something done than sleep less on the flight.

I purposely don't sleep the night before a morning flight, and works like a charm for most of my flying patterns.

That works great unless something goes wrong with the flight. Then you're stuck in an airport struggling to make alternate accommodations while sleep-deprived. :)

Additional trick: 2 gravol and a glass of red wine (you don't want to become an addict, but this is a huge help when you don't arrive tired) Source: I used to be a consultant and flew 2-3/week for two years.

You can skip the step of wearing silicone earplugs by getting a pair of IEMs (Etymotics HF5 and Shure E2C are two good models which cost around $100). They serve as both earplugs and earphones, and block noise much better than noise-cancelling headphones.

After a while, your ears get all hot, and the in-ear headphones tend to hurt after a while -- also, you can't judge the true absolute volume level well so close to your eardrums, and in-ear phones are more dangerous to your hearing than regular ones.

After a while, your ears get all hot, and the in-ear headphones tend to hurt after a while

I haven't experienced this. I wear IEMs every day, and have worn them on 14-hour flights. Perhaps it depends on the person. In any case I don't see why they would be hotter (or hurt more) than silicone earplugs.

in-ear phones are more dangerous to your hearing than regular ones

Citation? Given that they block more noise than other earphones, logic would dictate that you don't need to play them as loud to achieve the same clarity. I find that I keep the volume on my iPhone very low when I use IEMs, as opposed to near-maximum when using the supplied earphones or headphones.

If your ears hurt, you're probably using a sleeve that's too large. Try dropping a size, or using the softer ones.

I have the E2C's and I was quite happy with them except that they get uncomfortable to me after a couple of hours. I have now bought the Bose QuietComfort 15's. I haven't yet used them on a flight but I can wear them during the day for a long time with only slightly warm ears so I think they might work better for me.

Not really - active noise canceling headphones are better at blocking low sounds, like plane engines noise. IEMs block well human speach and other high sounds.

Actually, IEMs not only block human speech, but they also do a better job of canceling low sounds than active circuity. This is from personal experience, but also from everything I've read about them. Take this example: http://www.earphonesolutions.com/coofsoiseaan.html - scroll down and you'll see that for low frequencies, Shure E2Cs provided a 28dB reduction vs 17dB with the Bose QuietComfort in their tests.

I've not tried the E2C's, but I've made earphones out of earplugs. They block much serious noise, and then I listen to a loop of equalized pink noise to mask the rest.

These are good tips, but my number one tip for sleeping long haul is to wear something super comfortable on the flight.

I have a pair of baggy tracksuit bottoms and long-sleeve t-shirt, that roll down into nothing, which I change into in the departure lounge or on the plane. With a pair of thick warm socks it makes the world of difference.

I love seeing people on the SFO->LHR flight who dress like they're on the way to an evening in a cocktail bar. They invariably end up looking disheveled and grumpy by the time we arrive.

Yep, this, always. Plus a sweatshirt with hood in case it is cold which is almost always. I do not even wear jeans; compression tights are the only compromise and not much of one if you go for the good ones.

If you need to go straight to a meeting or whatever, just pack a suit carrier. Takes 10 minutes to change and you will arrive to the carousel around the same time your luggage does.

I am 6'2 and I passionately hate people who keep their seat reclined for the entire duration of the flight. With the seat in front reclined it is impossible to eat the meal. It is also absolutely impossible to use a laptop. For this reason I actually never recline myself, unless I have a child sitting behind me.

Bitch to the airline. Hardly the passenger's fault.

Hardly an option.

Besides one either gets the "don't do to others what you don't want to be done to you" view on things or one doesn't. In this case you clearly don't.

What a classy response.

Sometimes I love being 5'6" Sure you tall people have your sports and politics and scads of beautiful women, but I can get comfortable anywhere!

Forgive me for being unimpressed by your troubles. An old neck injury makes it very uncomfortable for me to fly, and absolutely painful if I can't recline my seat. And about using a laptop, forget about it. I've tried and within 5 minutes I have a blistering headache from tilting my head forward. You not being able to use a laptop I view as a small inconvenience compared to how I'll feel after the flight if I can't recline.

How about when people like you recline and your chair goes into our knees. Forgive me kneeing you in the back causing you back problems if you do this.

Hate or annoy? I choose annoy.

This is what business class was invented for.... for better or worse I guess.

My routine is surprisingly similar. The only thing I would add is that the Mindfold mask is by far the best I've ever used. It's so good that my experience is almost binary: with the Mindfold, sleep, without the Mindfold, struggle.

http://www.mindfold.com/

I like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Tempur-Pedic-Sleep-Mask/dp/B0027OUUFW

(Although, it was much cheaper when I bought it a few months ago!)

I sleep with this every night and find it to be quite comfortable. Being able to have total darkness and still be able to open your eyes is great. Sometimes I am woken up by my alarm clock and think, "why is my alarm going off at 3am" before I realize I have the eye shades on. Then I take it off and notice that I forgot to close my shades, and the sun has been directly in my eyes for a few hours ... and that I didn't even know. It's great.

Off-topic, but it seems you guys fly a lot. Any solids topics on how to get over fear off flying? I simply cannot get over that, though I flew a lot in past.

It won't help you fly, but take solace in your much smaller carbon footprint.

But of course, your daily commute releases more CO2 than the occasional long-haul flight. So unless you ride your bike to work everyday, this is a premature optimization.

Well, I do bike to work. But that's beside the point.

All calculations I've seen conclude that driving alone actually is less carbon-intensive than flying, on a per mile basis. The average American drives 10-15k miles per year. If you fly even remotely often, you'll easily end up logging more air miles than car miles. And if you carpool, there's no contest.

Flying is way worse than you may think, from a CO2 point of view.

I've read that statistically, you are far more likely to die in a car accident than a plane crash.

It depends a little bit on what specifically you fear when flying. If it's the safety of the plane, I'd get really familiar with how planes work. Having flown a lot since I was a child I can "feel" the plane and know that things are all right. I know the sounds of flying through clouds, brake flaps, the thump of the wheels, and it all makes me feel very much in control of my situation. I usually know what will happen, and it's reassuring to see the plane respond exactly as usual to everything (even turbulence). Having grown up with parents in different countries, I've flown quite a lot, and from a very young age, so I've experienced my share of "scary" situations. Finding out why things happened made me able to deal easily with them later, even though I was scared back then. (I also learnt to sit straight during landings in windy conditions - I thumped my head during landing at one time. I was just a small child and excited at finally being able to see everything on the airport on such a cloudy day, but I took home a life-long lesson :P ) I've held quite a few hands and talked to people who were terrified while flying - suffering from anxiety myself, I can sympathise. One such time we actually had to switch a plane because a there was a minor problem with the last check before take-off (something about some control lights - I remember it being fairly minor). The woman I was sitting next to was terrified, of course - instead of relieved that they made us switch planes for an error that probably would not have interfered much with the flight. Logical thinking like that doesn't work when you're terrified, but good preparation to reduce the number of unknowns can get you quite far.

So yes, tl;dr: Go geeky, and learn about how commercial airliners work (they're actually quite cool!). Then compare your knowledge to what happens during a trip and see how predictable it is, and after you can try focusing on just how cool it is how everything works :) Good luck!

Thank you. That helps. Off-topic, but are you studying in Norway? Which university you're a part of?

Studying in Norway - at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. I <3 Gløshaugen.

I fly around 100-120k miles a year so aircraft have become a place of rest. Simply sitting on one usually puts me to sleep.

That said, I take a number of very long trips each year e.g SYD-NYC etc. and find that ordering 2 or 3 rum and cokes after dinner and diving under the blanket knocks me out for a good 8 hours. Steering clear of the in flight entertainment helps too - plain old reading is much more calming.

Never used a neck pillow as I've always found the adjustable headrest to be adequate.

If you can get a second blanket, there's a way to wrap blankets to cover your ears, head, and eyes, while leaving your mouth and nose alone. This keeps it warmer, darker, and quieter - it's not hard once you think about how to do it. Sometimes I'll use a long coat like a blanket, and wrap the airline-blanket around my head/eyes/ears in this fashion for sleeping.

Actually I sometimes do that also. Depends on my mood. On some flights I've been known to cover my head with a blanket to create a cocoon and give my seat mate the "I'm a weirdo, don't talk to me" vibe.

Good stuff - I only half-cocoon with the wrap because I can't sleep so well completely under the blanket. I might try one of those head pieces after reading the article - I'm usually on the road for a while so I fight hard not to pack around extra gear, but if I'm doing a lot of flights in a short period it's probably worth the $10 just to see if there's a benefit. I'm flying tomorrow but it's only a two hour flight, I might try next time I do a long haul - cheers for the recommendations.

I always do this. I don't care what anyone thinks. It's peaceful in my cocoon.

I'd agree with many of his comments, and add:

- lip balm so your lips don't get dry and cracked - red wine works better for me than beer - I eat the meals because I like to nap after meals - don't watch movies because the bright lights will keep you awak - listen to relaxing music on your headphones, but choose a playlist that will run out after about 30 minutes - a small pillow can help if you get uncomfortable on flat, hard plane seat cushions. Soemtimes the airlines give you these, but a folded up shirt under your thighs will also help - dont sit near the toilets or galleys because they will be noisy - if you suspect the flight might be a bit empty, get a seat near the back. It's noisier but there is a much higher chance of nabbing a row of seats to yourself.

Finally, pharmaceuticals : sleeping tablets work great, and the best sleep I ever had was stretched out across 5 seats on a 777 after a tiring weekend and a mild sleeping tablet.

I never drink alcohol (or caffeine) on long haul plane flights -- dehydration is really really awful, and you dehydrate so quickly on planes with the air conditioning going all the time. But then again my "long haul" flights are 20hrs+, not 10.

Skip the Bose. I flew a lot, and the best thing I ever did was ditch QuietComforts for Shure EC series in-ear.They cost a little more (and a lot more than the mp3 player you plug them into) but are well worth it.

To put it in numerical perspective, I had my mp3 player on volume 20 with the Bose, and volume 11 with the Shures to get the same level of music.

To put it in numerical perspective, I had my mp3 player on volume 20 with the Bose, and volume 11 with the Shures to get the same level of music.

That says more about the sensitivity of the Bose vs the Shure more than the sound blocking ability.

That said, I have Bose QC-1 (first generation) noise canceling headsets and Etymotics ER-6i (which just my replaced the ER-6) in-ear headphones. I tend to use the Etys much more than the Bose simply because the Etys are easier to pack (I can stuff them in my pocket vs having to make room in my carry-on for the Bose).

The in-ears do work better than noise canceling headphones, but they are not as comfortable for very long usage.

Not pumping however many extra decibels into your ear due to the extra blocking is pretty valuable. I actually found the Shures to be more comfortable than the QC2s for long, but I found the QC3s to be more comfortable than the QC2s as well.

Not pumping however many extra decibels into your ear due to the extra blocking is pretty valuable

Absolutely true, but comparing the DAP volume setting doesn't tell you that. The Bose QC-x are relatively insensitive, so the DAP volume will be on a higher setting regardless of the amount of noise blocked/canceled.

The one thing that kills comfort during long flights is the inconsiderate person in front of you jacking their seat all the way back. somebody wan selling a device that disabled this, but I cannot find the link now. I would pay good money, say $20, for such a covert device.

Actually, I'd skip the super-loose socks and go for a pair of compression stockings instead (and some aspirin before I go), with slightly loose, thick woollen socks on the outside for warmth and comfort. Feet get cold, and deep vein thrombosis is a risk on long flights.

Why compression stockings? They reduce the risk of deep vein thrombosis during air travel. Here's a link to a Cochrane review for those curious: http://www2.cochrane.org/reviews/en/ab004002.html

Not that I've ever managed or ever will manage to get more than about 20 minutes of contiguous sleep on a plane (I'm tall, and have a hard time falling asleep in ideal conditions, which planes are not) but having a hoodie with a very large hood can be helpful. Ideally, one made of a thin material, so you don't cook yourself a la barbacoa. You then pull the hood over your head and face, and pull the drawstrings. People leave me alone when I do. For this reason, I call hoodies "portable privacy".

Interesting link at the end to alternate nostril breathing. I find focusing on the breathing - rising and falling of stomach - to be great as well.

One thing I've tried that never seemed to work: Heavy drinking.

Very disappointing, and going through customs afterward is painful.

What worked for me was to not sleep for 30 hours beforehand.

Ha! You describe my strategy almost exactly. Right down to the backwards neck pillow, same headphones, and the positioning of the double blanket.

Great minds think alike, eh?

I'd also add that having thick, slightly compress-y socks and taking off your shoes can help.

The best eye masks, btw, are the Sleep Shades made by Bucky, with special soft padding that blocks out light from below your eye sockets. You can get them on Amazon.com. I have lost them on several continents and always gone to the expense and trouble of buying new ones.

When I have trouble falling asleep, I add in some Dramamine, or if the flight's really uncomfortable / full of screaming babies / extremely long (like Vienna -> Wellington), Xanax.

Once i saw the title I had an immediate answer. Quite simple:

a) NOISE. You need noise. So much that it is not too loud but becomes background and ignorable. Practice on the NYC subway.

b) Head Rest. Something to keep your head in place and no pressure on the neck. Do that and you can sleep sitting or standing (yes I can)

c) Nobody touching you. anyone around you can do what they want, but as long as body-contact does not CHANGE all is well. You can be touching their hand or shoulder to shoulder, but as long as there is no change you are fine. Sleeping in weird non-super-restful positions = you are more alert so small things will wake you.

Again, practice on NYC subway and you will be an expert in no time.

50mg Trazodone + ear plugs + eye mask. It's like teleportation.

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