Should I not sleep before a flight?

If you react well to taking naps, then you should sleep for a few hours. Or if you find it easy to wake up in the middle of the night and function well, then you might want to sleep for a few hours. But if you find it easy to sleep on a plane, then you might want to stay up and sleep once you are in the air.



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The best thing you can do to prevent jet lag is to get a lot of sleep the night before your flight. If you board the plane sleep deprived, you're less likely to fall asleep when you want to on the flight, and less likely to stay asleep. Not getting enough rest before a trip starts you at a disadvantage already.

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Don't Pull an All-Nighter However, that sleep on the plane is never as good as the sleep you missed out on the night before. If you're somewhat rested and ready for a long journey, chances are you won't miss connections due to being rundown and listless from that all-nighter you pulled.

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“If you're landing when people are awake in the middle of the day, that's what you want to do, too. Sleep as much as you can on the plane,” she says. “If you're going to be landing at night, do your best to stay awake on the plane and sleep at your destination.”

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Take a melatonin pill. That's the hormone that our bodies use to put us to sleep naturally. Pop the pill a few hours before the flight. It's an assist, but it won't knock you out if you're not already inclined to sleep. Buy it at home, because it's not sold in some countries.

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Don't Sleep During the Flight – or Do
Sleep on the plane only if it is the normal sleep time for your destination. (A red-eye flight headed eastward is a typical example.) Some people have difficulty sleeping on a plane at all, but it's a good idea under certain conditions.

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Get to the airport two hours early for domestic travel. Get to the airport three hours early for international travel. Mornings, evenings, and holidays are always busy. Please plan for extra time.

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Get into the habit of sleeping eight hours per night. When needed, and if possible, nap during the day, but limit the nap to less than 30 minutes.

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There's also a paradoxically physical reason you'll get tired on planes, especially during takeoff — acceleration. When the aircraft is speeding down the runway and about to take flight, you get pushed back. Accelerative forces push the body back, tricking the brain into the surreal sensation that you're horizontal.

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Take a melatonin pill. That's the hormone that our bodies use to put us to sleep naturally. Pop the pill a few hours before the flight.

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Earlier in the day is the safest time of day to fly. More accidents occur later in the day when the pilots are tired, especially when the weather is bad and there have been delays. How does weather influence air safety? Weather is a factor in a majority of accidents.

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It might be surprising to learn that turbulence is actually worse in the daytime. In the early morning and night time, wind speeds typically reduce, and thunderstorms clear up. Avoid turbulence and catch up on some sleep by choosing flights with an early morning or red-eye departure!

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Pilots see only darkness around them except for lights if visibility is good. At night or even during day commercial planes navigate by using onboard instruments from immediately after takeoff till landing. They are not supposed to navigate based on visual cues.

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Remember that anything over 6 hours flying time is considered long haul, but flights of longer than 10 hours are not uncommon either. One important thing to remember is to keep your seat belt fastened at all times in case of unexpected turbulence.

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International flights require longer connections as you will often have to go through immigration and customs upon arrival. For international layover flights booked on one airline, two hours is often recommended to make your connection.

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This is because international flights can have additional check-in requirements, like passport verification, that need to be completed before you receive your boarding pass. Further, international flights tend to begin their boarding process 15 to 30 minutes earlier than domestic flights due to the larger plane size.

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The good news for travelers is that sleeping in an airport usually isn't against the rules, but this doesn't mean you can sleep anywhere at any time undisturbed. Rules can vary from airport to airport, and some take a firmer stance than others.

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Remember that anything over 6 hours flying time is considered long haul, but flights of longer than 10 hours are not uncommon either. One important thing to remember is to keep your seat belt fastened at all times in case of unexpected turbulence.

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