Sleep While Traveling – When you are traveling on vacation, you want to have as much energy as possible.
No one wants to spend their vacation feeling tired and lethargic, but for those with difficulty sleeping while traveling, this is always a possibility.
Below are five tips that any traveler looking to improve their sleep quality can benefit from.
Quality Sleep While Traveling to PreEmpt Your Jetlag
If you are expecting to experience jet lag during your travels, then it is usually worth taking preemptive action.
As we will come onto, you don’t need to prepare yourself if you are only going to be staying for two days or less.
However, if you will be there longer than this then it is worth preparing your body two or three days before you are scheduled to leave.
Try shifting your bedtime forward or backward by a couple of hours, as appropriate, in the days before you leave.
Move it a little more each day, and after two or three days, you should have shifted your sleep pattern to account for a new time zone.
Sync Up With The Locals
In different parts of the world, people sometimes have very different attitudes towards resting and sleeping throughout the day.
Perhaps the most famous example of this is the Spanish siesta, something that many of us wish was more popular in our own countries.
If the locals in the place you are visiting tend to have a rest during the middle of the day, then you should do this as well.
Follow The Two-Day Rule
We touched on this briefly earlier, if you haven’t come across this rule before then it is one that is well worth remembering.
Essentially, given how long it takes your body to adjust to a new time zone and then back again, it is only worth making adjustments to your sleep schedule if you are going to be staying at your destination longer than two days.
If you won’t be there that long, by the time your body has acclimatized a new sleeping schedule, it will be time to come home again.
Once you arrive home, your body will then need to re-adjust and deal with any potential jet lag.
Invest In Some Sleeping Aids
Some people can sleep just about anywhere, while others need conditions to be within certain parameters if they are going to have restful uninterrupted sleep.
Most of us sit somewhere in between these two extremes; we aren’t overly fussy about our sleeping environment but we do need it to be quiet and comfortable.
Fortunately, if you are experiencing any disturbances or discomfort when trying to get to sleep, there are a number of products on the market that might be able to help you.
Don’t underestimate how much difference a good travel pillow can make.
You really can’t put a price on comfort, or on getting enough sleep.
For the relatively minor cost of a travel pillow, you might be able to significantly improve the quality of your sleep.
If you rely on a CPAP machine when sleeping, you might want to consider these easy to pack strips.
Somnifix’s mouth strips enable the user to naturally breathe through their nose while keeping their mouth closed.
For CPAP users, this ensures compliance with nasal masks. For everyone else, these strips can reduce snoring and improve breathing.
Stay Active
The more active you are during the day, the easier you will find it to get to sleep while traveling in the evenings.
If you have the option of filling your days up with stuff to do, we recommend that you do so with glee!
If you are older or less mobile, a short stroll or trip outside in the evening can make getting to sleep afterward much easier.
No one wants their holidays to be ruined by sleep deprivation.
But sleeping troubles are a common complaint, amongst even experienced travelers.
If you have had issues sleeping while traveling before, put a plan in place for this trip to ensure you are well-rested throughout.