I can fall asleep almost anywhere. I routinely fall asleep in the break room at work. Once, I was helping a friend fix his car, and I fell asleep on his garage floor when he went inside to get water.
But in a hot metal tube tearing through the sky, with my neck all kinked? Get out of here, man.
If it moves, I can sleep. Ship on rough waves? Sleeping. Train? Sleeping. Bus? Sleeping. Cab, especially late at night, a struggle to stay awake. Planes are no different. I often fall asleep during taxi already.
The one time I slept in a plane for more than an hour was when I wrapped my head in a blanket and had an empty seat next to me to lean on.
Personally, drugs
Like a baby. The older I’ve gotten I’ve gained the ability to fall asleep virtually anywhere. My wife is super jealous that I’m able to be asleep for an entire 5-7 hour flight.
1-2mg of Melatonin, remain motionless with eyes closed for ~20 minutes, you’ll be out like a light. Make sure you take a smaller dose - most gummies are 5 or 10 mg, it honestly works better if you subdivide.
idk mate, I just decide to sleep and eventually I do.
Headphones in, zone out, drift off, wake up with a crooked neck.
I started wearing ear plugs and an eye mask every day. Eventually I got so used to it to the point that 1) it feels comfortable and 2) my body associates those things with sleep.
When on a plane I just put the ear plugs and eye mask on, and my brain just knows it’s sleep time.
Also, not all neck pillows are created equal. I found the biggest factor is the pillow having straps to secure it to the head rest. It will do the work of holding your head and you won’t drift sideways as you fall asleep.
Gentle turbulence actually helps, believe it or not.
The noise of the engines tends to help me. Same with sleeping on a long car journey. They hum or white noise or whatever of the engine and the road really help. Also why I like to sleep with a fan on. Not only to help cool down. But also because the noise really gets me to fall asleep sooner.
I have flown a hundred times and slept exactly once. It was like teleporting from Osaka to Sydney. If I could do that more, it would be very good.
That’s what I do. I purposely pick seats nearest the engines
The clouds are pretty. But speaking from experience, connecting flights/long flights will just let you drop in and out due to exhaustion. You will randomly wake up because of the weird positioning of your neck like 5 times. Heaphones help a lot to sleep. But I conclude, quality sleep can be found on airport floors(not joking).
There’s definitely a lot to be said about the exhaustion from long flights. I used to travel often between east Asia and the States, so I had to get used to sleeping on planes out of necessity. I’d always try to get a long layover in either Seoul or Beijing because their airports allowed for sleep. Seoul had a layover area where there were reclining lounges that were really comfortable to sleep on, and Beijing has a hotel in the airport where you can get a single room with a bed. It also has a shower, which is awesome when you’re getting off of a 10+ hour flight.
I used to fly a lot. I’m at the point where I board the plane, sit, close my eyes, and wake up when we start pulling into the gate at our destination.
I don’t use a neck pillow or anything. Usually just grab a water bottle before boarding, because my mouth gets crazy dry.
Business class lie flat seat for long haul flights. Tickets are insanely expensive… fortunately I have a ton of air miles from company travel. Once you try it there’s no going back.
For me it’s the gentle lullof the motor and mild sway of the plane. I just can’t stay awake if I try
How do people sleep on planes?
Neck pillow, earplugs, eyemask
Noise cancelling headphones and listen to something pleasant.
