Airplane insomniacs, how do you spell relief?
 

Ambien has never done anything for me on overseas flights. I told my doc I have another long one coming up and asked if there was something better. He prescribed Temazepam 30mg. I've been doing some reading on it and am a little nervous about taking a benzo. I really can't sleep on planes and am miserable on long flights. I like to have a few stiff drinks after dinner on a long flight, but that might be a no no mixed with a benzo. Anyone have any experience here?

Find out what aircraft you are flying and get a copy of their dash-1. You will get drowsy as soon as you open it. Worked like that for us for years.

get POO FACED raving drunk the night before yer flight. you'll sleep jus FINE!


try this juan:



phx-ft worth-orlando-miami-barbados. that =(4) different planes in a day.


or.............



barbados-miami-baltimore-ft worth-phx. in a day.


sheesh bout kicked my azz to shine-nola.



leave when its dark arrive when its dark or was it leave when light out and land when dark or was it just DARK and then light!



when in the HELL is there gonna be a freeking NON STOP from phx to BARBADOS!

What does this mean?

Wow ambient knocks me out two drinks,dinner, and I wake up in Taiwan

One of my former bosses virtually lives at 30,000 feet. He is asleep by the time the plane lines up on the runway for takeoff.

I'm like you, Rick. Can't sleep. But unlike you, I'd gleefully take a benzo.

me, i dont fight it. no pressure. last time i flew from bangkok to taiwan..ate a bowl of noodles at the airport..jumped on a plane and flew to San Fran. didnt sleep a single minute. i watched every single movie on the plane.

got home showered.dove into bed..slept for 14 hours or so. my wife could sleep fine..until i would wake her up for a funny movie part...

take the pill..
it's not going to gork you..
you will happy & nappy..

Rika

It's all about making the environment more Zen. (drug free)

So...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1282847963.jpg

These are a must-have, IMO. The hours of jet engine droning is well attenuated by these things. The bad part of those headphones is if they rest up against anything in the droning plane, they don't work so well. So, a neck pillow may be helpful.
. . plug in some relaxing music, or an audio book on macro economic :cool:

Also take a Goretex type jacket/shell to throw over your head. --as a big part of air travel discomfort is the super-dry air. The jacket will help contain the moister of exhaling. Also to that end, Evian makes little aerosol cans of water.


Oh, and even if you don't get good REM sleep, your body will get some rest. ...so don't fret over not getting the usual REM.

Whis-key

pay for 1st class?

drug yourself?

plan your sleep around it a few days before?

melatonin (no too much.. really gives me ****ed up nightmarish dreams in higher doses. Im talking your shoes start eating you from your feet up sort of stuff!)

benidryll?

play "watch the hot girl sleep"

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Ask the Pilots what they use?

Rick, the dash one is the aircraft "operating manual" so to speak. As a USAF crewmember we are supposed to spend time in our "dash ones" on long legs to keep our edge in knowledge and proficiency. What it usually meant was snooze time cuz you can only read that shyte so much and it seemed that as soon as it got cracked open it was rubber necking time.

I laughed out loud...thanks my AF Brother.

In the Navy the manual is called NATOPS, very specific to each aircraft...wrapped in a blue binder.

Commonly referred to as the, "Big Blue Sleeping Pill".

I only have 800 songs in my iPod and iPhone and I don't think there will be a power supply to keep either charged. I want to try to get on central European time soon after dinner. I can't keep myself busy for that long, even on a comfortable flight with no screaming babies. I need to be knocked out good.

I try to go on the plane slightly sleep deprived. Only sleep about 5-6 hours each for a couple of nights before the trip. This lets me sleep much better / deeper and makes the trip go by fast. No way in hell would I take any medication (aside from a couple of beers). If you can't sleep, you aren't tired, is my motto ...

George

Your phone(s), once in 'airplane mode' (radios off) will last a very long time. (the cell radio is the power hog)

Although, I will admit that I carry a spare battery for both my phone (music) and my UMPC tablet (movies).

When I had insomnia, I used Lunesta and it worked without causing a "hangover" feeling ...

I used to go to LHR twice a month from Dulles and once a month from LAX or SFO (direct as I had to go to those two cities once a month). I would eat the meal, drink red wine (three or four glasses) and read a fat book (never watched the movie as it would keep me up). Upon arrival (esp. from Dulles) I would go to the hotel and sleep two hours (no more). I'd go to work by noon and stay up as late as I could the first night. By the next day I was fine.

I didn't go coach however. That would have made it much, much harder. If you are, kill for a business class upgrade.

There is also a daily flight from IAD to LHR that leaves in the morning now. You arrive around midnight go to sleep and wake up normally the next day- no jet lag at all. Don't know if that would work for you.

tylenol pm?

Huh.... my problem is trying to stay awake when flying. A flight after lunch on a warm summer day with gentle light turbulence has me wanting to fall asleep at the control yoke. :D

way to give yourself dvt

what are u traveling for? do u have to do anything the day that you arrive?

my strategy for going from chicago to beijing for visiting family/vacationing. 13-14hr flight. leaving chicago in morning. arrives beijing mid afternoon.

the nite before the flight. do not sleep. watch tv, drink coffee, soda, whatever.
once airborne, get out of your seat. stand and chill next to the stewardess/kitchen/emerg exit area. there's usually a folddown seat for the stewardesses so if captain turns on the seat belt sign, u can just sit down and buckle up there instead of trying to find your way back to your seat. the stewardesses are usually fine with this as long as they have enough seats too.
stay on your feet as much as possible. watch the movie, chat w/ ppl. grab a drink. ask em if they have any extra peanuts....

when u arrive at your destination, you will be dead tired. grab a bite for dinner and drop into bed and sleep. u'll wake up the next morning about 6-7am.

I just hope that you are not the pilot in command.....

The fact that you are thinking about it so much is probably not helping. What worked for me was starting to recognise when I was getting drowsy and settling down straight away - even if I only got an hours sleep out of it.

Other things that helped me change my pattern:
ask for a blanket - most long haul flights have them. Getting warm helps get drowsy.
ask for a pillow or two and try and build a "nest" for your head so it covers at least one ear.
if cattle class, get a window seat - you can then wedge your head and pillow in the corner between your seat back and the wall. The also means that no-one is climbing over you to get out - the person beside you does not disturb you when they get up to go to the washroom.
go to the washroom before you settle - nothing worse than getting comfortable and drowsy then your bladder says 'hey - remember me'

These days on short (1.5hr) early morning flights (6:30am depart) I am often asleep before they push back - my travelling companions from work just shake their heads. It comes from years of long haul flights and millions of miles in the sky.

Tim

geez, man up and take the benzo. Or send them to me...

When Dan said "dash one" how many other people here immediately had pain in their five points of contact?

If I needed to sleep, I'd take a few Tizanidines (zanaflex for you name-branders). But since I'm such a sound, early-to-bed sleeper I've never had to resort to that.

When I am not in the cockpit, I go to sleep on the taxi-out, then wake up after 20 minutes or so...

You need to relax and just enjoy the flight. You are most likely going to die in a car accident, not the airplane... :)

Did you leave me the keys to the bike? :)

Joe

Melatonin

I've pretty much given-up on sleeping on planes. Never happens (or in cars either). I've tried drugs but without much success and prefer not to go that route anyway. So,I just work, read or watch shows/movies.

+1. I have been in transit for over 26 hours with a three hour wait for a hotel on the homestretch with no sleep. Sucks....

When I commuted weekly I used to do this. Something about the gentile rocking of taxing.

yeah, but the problem is you were scheduled to go to Sydney! :D

As opposed to the Jewish rocking of taxiing. Or did you actually mean 'taxing'?

Well, if you want to take that outlook and feel that the Jew's tax more than others, then you would have to fly on American, Delta, United, Jet Blue and so on and get absolutely bent over with their extra fees.

I have flown no one other airline than SouthWest the last couple of years for my CONUS flights as they are one of the few who do not screw everyone with their "add-ons" charges.