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Comment by dakiol | Hacker News Reader

Am I the only one who is always tired in the plane no matter what and cannot anything but close my eyes and wait til the flight is over?

The idea of pulling out my laptop or even a book is just… tiring. There’s a lot of noise as well (airbus anyone?) and I don’t have noise cancel headphones, so concentration is difficult. Without taking into account that I have spent at least 2h away from home among trains, trams and security controllers. The bad (unhealthy) food available in airports doesn’t help either. Half the year the weather doesn’t help either(it’s either too hot or too cold). Plus the 10 kilos backpack I have on my back is making me sweat no matter what.

So, basically, I’m never in the mood of doing anything in a plane.

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> Am I the only one who is always tired in the plane no matter what and cannot anything but close my eyes and wait till the flight is over?

I suffer from adult ADHD. It is harder for me to focus when at work. But, on a plane or other busy places, I can achieve laser focus. Counterintuitive, but I am told that many ADHD brains work like this.

My time on the plane is the most productive.

Interesting. Sounds like John von Neumann, who was famous for this.

I'm glad I'm not the only one. This is me too. I don't get it. It's like doctors waiting rooms, traffic, etc I do some of my best thinking.

But give me a quiet room, what I need, and time and I do absolutely nothing. It's ridiculous.

I used to get my laptop out and try to do things. But ever since the seat pitch started shrinking, I find it really hard to get anything larger than a tablet out without it needing to rest on me or risk having the screen broken if the person in front of me leans back. The last one happened to a coworker a few years ago.

So these days I usually just pull out my iPad and noise cancelling headphones and catch up on my movies or TV shows.

Sounds like a case for lazy glasses.

No, you are not the only one. My body does the same thing, and I think this is related to lower amounts of oxygen in the air. It's not about the noise (noise canceling headphones do wonders), it's definitely about the air.

But apparently there are people who are not affected by this at all and can do useful work on airplanes.

The noise isn't the only issue but it certainly contributes - I've noticed fixing the noise issue with headphones/earplugs does wonders. I would expect the air pressure (=oxygen availability) to contribute too, and another factor are the movements and vibrations.

I'm intensely jealous. I used to go to the doctor and get medication specifically to make me sleepy on the plane. I've decided not to take that kind of thing anymore and dread the next time I have a long flight.

I can deal with all the airport crap, but sitting on the plane for two 12 hour stretches is horrible.

> I can deal with all the airport crap, but sitting on the plane for two 12 hour stretches is horrible.

What's wrong with it? Perhaps I'm weird, I love flying and always look forward to my next flight, bonus points if its a long one.

It forces me to unplug from the internet, so I always bring along my kindle to take a decent chunk out of my book backlog.

Of course I have my laptop too, though its not useful for much besides cataloging my knowledge base and getting a head start on essays for school.

I'm curious why many people seem to dislike flying. I wonder if its more of an introvert/extrovert split or a young/old one. I want nothing more than to be able to do my own thing undisturbed, and flights are the perfect avenue for that.

I prefer to spend most of my time sitting down by myself and thinking, so it's definitely not a matter of unplugging, nor is it a lack of stimulation.

For me, it's almost always that I'm exhausted and basically unable to be physically comfortable. When I have 10+ hour flights with layovers it feels like enhanced interrogation: I'm prevented from getting any significant amount of good sleep, and I'm forced to be in a kind of sitting stress position where I can't get comfortable and I can't sleep. Forget about reading, I'm just not capable of doing it.

You could test if this was the case by traveling to a high-altitude city and staying there long enough to acclimate before flying out.

I'm the opposite. I can't sleep or even get tired regardless of how tired or sleep deprived I am. Makes trans-Atlantics worse, and traveling with others almost feels like getting mocked when they fall asleep for eight hours at a time.

You are not the only one. I feel super hazy during flights and shut my eyes for the flight to land. I tried reading books and getting some work done too but my brain just checks out after 5-10 minutes.

Also, for some odd reasons, aircraft meals gives me bloating issues every single time and need medication immediately after I have landed.

Interestingly, I have flown in business class twice and was able to do some reading partially before my brain checkedout.

On long distance train rides, it is. easier for me to actually get some work done given that am sitting facing the direction on which the train is going. However, if the train gets fairly crowded, then my brain again decides to checkout.

Yes, travel is tiring/stressful, air travel doubly so (first the airport gauntlet, then a box full of noise, vibrations and with about 70% of normal oxygen levels available to your body due to the lower pressure).

However, you can make it suck less. Stow your backpack overhead so you have at least some leg room. Have comfortable clothes, possibly adjustable ones (zip-off pants, t-shirt plus a separate warmer layer you can take off). Wear earplugs - possibly from the point on where you leave your home - to reduce the added stress from noise. If you have noise cancelling over-the-ear headphones, those go over the earplugs, then you crank the volume up (given the surrounding noise, this should not leak enough noise to be annoying for your seat mates). If you don't, consider noise-insulating in-ear headphones + earmuffs.

I tend to fall asleep on planes easily (usually aided by sleep deprivation because I procrastinated packing for way too long), but when I wake up, I tend to be perfectly in the mood for some dumb entertainment.

Totally agree. I’ve always assumed that high CO2 levels and low air pressure must have some effect on drowsiness and cognition

Edit: some googling shows that commercial flights can reach 1500 to sometimes 3000 ppm co2. Pressure is around 0.75 atm at cruising altitude. My understanding is that would be noticeable

Strange, from my own measurements, I remember the co2 levels to be sub-600.

The study i saw this on was a review of data from 200ish US domestic flights. Maybe you were close to a vent, or some other variable im not thinking of, or just an outlier

Possibly increased ventilation post-COVID?

Confirmed, flown SF-Toronto round trip multiple times, Toronto-SF-South Korea, Toronto-London, and on both narrow body and wide body aircraft I'm lucky to get less than 1800ppm, with peaks at 3100ppm (on the London flight) according to my aranet4 placed either at the top of the magazine pouch or in an open exposed pocket in my bag on the floor.

For me I find planes a good way to disconnect from the outside world.

Buy yourself some noise cancelling headphones, either over-ear or in-ear like Airpods Pro. At a minimum these provide a lot of comfort on planes to keep the noise down from potential passengers and the aircraft itself. I often wear them without any music at all.

I like to whip a book out and read or look out the window.

Sounds like a pair of noise cancelling headphones would be a good investment in your quality of life, then! Or you can get those noise-reduction things that look like headphones but just attenuate noise for construction sites. My brother tipped me off to that, it's great! (You can also listen to music / movies without having the volume on too high, too)

Funnily enough, a pair of AirPods Pros were the first thing that let me sleep on a flight!

I can burn hours reading on a plane, if I'm not really tired. But I feel the same as you about working on a laptop.

The shaking, not enough space to type properly etc.

Interesting, I'm the total opposite.

I feel the rare permission to live as if I'm in cryo stasis and time doesn't matter and no one expects anything from me.

The plane noise is like white noise which helps me focus, chilly temps keeps me alert and I'm cozy in a sweater. I bring snacks I enjoy.

And I get to coding. Or working on presentations. Or journalling.

Also I cannot sleep in a chair/on a plane no matter what (even if utterly exhausted, I'm swaying an and out of consciousness every few seconds). That is so dreadful that I always avoid red-eye. In fact I just avoid being tired on a plane in general, typically booking a morning/daytime flight, have a little caffeine (I usually avoid it, so it's a jolt), no big meals, ...

Definitely not just you. My wishful thinking compels me to bring a book on a plane, but I usually end up either trying to sleep, or playing yet another stupid game of iPhone Civilization.

drugs

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