--- title: Here's How You Can Sleep Better on Planes description: TIME has curated helpful tips so that you can get a better rest on your next flight. canonical: https://time.com/6549884/how-to-sleep-better-on-planes/ author: Anna Gordon article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-12-21T20:44:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:45:04.132Z og:title: Here's How You Can Sleep Better on Planes og:description: TIME has curated helpful tips so that you can get a better rest on your next flight. og:url: https://time.com/6549884/how-to-sleep-better-on-planes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta7d9b4cb3c1ea285/698a43744ee262983b31c13a/GettyImages-1126924507.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2120 og:image:height: 1193 og:image:alt: Woman traveling by plane and sleeping og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's How You Can Sleep Better on Planes twitter:description: TIME has curated helpful tips so that you can get a better rest on your next flight. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta7d9b4cb3c1ea285/698a43744ee262983b31c13a/GettyImages-1126924507.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's How You Can Sleep Better on Planes > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture recommendation newsletter, edited by culture editor Eliza Berman. Each week it surfaces the books, shows, films and ideas TIME's editors think are worth your attention, and explains why. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Does TIME have a culture newsletter? Yes. Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published weekly. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-worth-2026q3/newsletters?i=431490f1-bec0-4e96-9b19-b845d75964c3&cr=time-nl-worth-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The 10 Best TV Shows of 2023 [Watch (HLS stream): The 10 Best TV Shows of 2023](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/W7gXowc4.m3u8) (9:04)  _Published 2023-12-20. Here are the 10 television series that stood out in 2023._ by [Anna Gordon](https://time.com/author/anna-gordon/) ## Anna Gordon Gordon was a reporter for TIME, based in the London bureau. Dec 21, 2023 8:44 PM UTC  TIME has curated useful tips, with the help of a sleep expert, so that you can get a better rest on your next flight. TIME has curated useful tips, with the help of a sleep expert, so that you can get a better rest on your next flight. Andresr—Getty Images by [Anna Gordon](https://time.com/author/anna-gordon/) ## Anna Gordon Gordon was a reporter for TIME, based in the London bureau. Dec 21, 2023 8:44 PM UTC Legroom in economy seating has lessened over time. American Airlines, Southwest, Delta, and United have reportedly [each removed between two to five inches](https://www.cntraveler.com/story/airline-seat-sizes-safety-risks-op-ed#:~:text=Fact%3A%20Seats%20are%20much%20smaller,in%20at%20about%2031%20inches.%29) in the distance between rows since the 1980s. This means passengers now have to crouch into even tinier spaces to get a good rest. [](https://www.tiktok.com/@jinymaeng/video/7216646806816476417)If you’re traveling for the holidays, you may be wondering if there is anything you can do to alleviate the situation, especially if you have an overnight flight. TIME spoke with sleep expert Lindsay Browning, who studied insomnia at Oxford University. She says that while no night of sleep on a plane will be equivalent to sleeping in your own bed, if passengers plan ahead, they can improve the chances that they are able to get some rest on the flight. Here's what you can do. ## Start living on your new time zone’s schedule the day before Browning says that if you are expecting a significant time zone change of three hours or more, one of the most useful things you can do for improving sleep quality is to start eating meals the day before as if you were living in your future time zone. “Think about the place you're going to and ask yourself, would you be eating at that time?” says Browning. She says that food on airplanes often is timed to the place of your departure, which can slow down the process of acclimating to a new time zone. This is also a useful way to think about other routine activities that you might do at the same time each day, like exercise. If you usually exercise at 6:00 a.m. in your current time zone, then start exercising at 6 a.m. in your future time zone the day before your flight. ## Plan for light and noise We all know that bright lights and noise on planes are not very conducive to a good sleep. However, if you plan ahead, there are ways that you can reduce the impact this has on your quality of sleep. Eye masks and ear plugs can be especially helpful. Browning also recommends avoiding screens, including the built-in screens on the plane, if your goal is to get the best rest you can. ## Wear layers While many people with insomnia struggle to sleep because their bedrooms are too warm, Browning says that on planes, the opposite is often true. “If you get too cold, that's going to disrupt your sleep because you might wake up or be unable to fall asleep,” says Browning. Fundamentally, people sleep best when they are comfortable, and anything that throws off your body’s comfort levels, including a slightly cold airplane, can be disruptive. Wearing layers helps you be prepared for multiple different temperatures, since you can also take off a layer if you are too warm. You can also bring a blanket if you feel that this would help you stay warm and reminds you of your normal sleep routine. ### More From TIME ## Avoid alcohol Many people make the mistake of drinking an alcoholic beverage on a plane, especially since they are sometimes offered free drinks on flights. While the alcohol can help you fall asleep, it typically [makes sleep quality worse](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/25/well/mind/alcohol-drinking-sleep.html). Alcohol can also make your body more dehydrated, which can increase bodily discomfort and ultimately make it more difficult to sleep. ## Consider a sleep aid While regularly relying on over-the-counter sleep aids is usually not helpful for treating conditions like chronic insomnia in the long run, they can be of use for a “one-off” situation like a plane ride. If you live in America, you may want to consider buying melatonin, which can be helpful for [dealing with jetlag](https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/jet-lag/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20374031) and signaling to your body that it’s time to go to sleep. However, melatonin is not available over-the-counter in all countries and research on the long-term effect of daily usage is minimal. It also seems to be most useful for issues related to schedule and sunlight exposure, as opposed to fixing things like discomfort or an overactive mind, which is why Browning suggests that it is not as useful for people who are not switching time zones. Alternatively drowsy antihistamines like Benadryl, which are available over-the-counter in most countries, can help induce sleepiness for a single night as well. They might be more useful if you are not planning on switching time zones and simply want to induce drowsiness for one night. Similarly to melatonin, Browning does not recommend taking antihistamines on a regular basis to induce sleep. ## Place a pillow under the small of your back Another useful tip is to [place a pillow](https://time.com/shopping/article/best-down-pillows/) between your lower back and the seat. “You're trying to keep your spine fairly neutral, but of course it is slumped in the chair and you'll find it curved. It can be painful or uncomfortable and this could wake you up, so you might find a pillow behind your back can be helpful,” says Browning. Ultimately, however, she stresses that what is most comfortable will differ among passengers, and you should pay attention to what makes your own body most at ease. “If you're normally a side sleeper or a back sleeper or a front sleeper, what works best for you may be very different,” she says. ## Use a neck pillow Many travelers may also find they struggle to fall asleep without neck support. One of the best ways to deal with that is to use [a neck pillow](https://www.tiktok.com/@deetsontheeats/video/7224617612066639150?lang=en) designed specifically for flights. There are multiple neck pillow designs to choose from. If you don’t have one, you can try to prop your neck up with [the folded pads](https://www.tiktok.com/@jeenie.weenie/video/7167085315918662917?lang=en) that are sometimes included on the back of headrests on airplanes. ## Remember one night is not the end of the world No matter what happens, Browning says that it’s really important to remember that it is normal to experience one bad night of sleep every so often. Sometimes, the stress around trying to get a good sleep can actually make people so anxious that they struggle to sleep even more. “I see clients who literally will avoid going on holiday because they're scared of getting a bad night of sleep on the plane,” says Browning. “Lots of people sometimes catastrophize and think it’s the end of the world, but the reality is it’s _not_ the end of the world. We all have bad nights of sleep sometimes.” While one night of sleep will affect cognitive performance the following day, she says so would a cold or an argument with a loved one. These things are unpleasant, but also a regular part of life. To avoid these scenarios altogether isn’t healthy either. Browning says that she herself chooses how much she adheres to all of these tips depending on how alert she anticipates needing to be the next day when she lands. “If I'm going on holiday with my family and it doesn't really matter if I'm in my \[mental\] prime when I get to the destination, then I might have a glass of wine on the plane or meals at the wrong time for my timezones because it doesn't really matter." ## Transcript Here are the 10 television series that stood out in 2023. Poker Face Natasha Lyonne stars is a rumpled citizen detective in a Colombo omage created by Ryan Johnson. The show could have been made on autopilot and still Charmed viewers instead. We got 10 episodes of case of the week. Magic that sent Leone's human polygraph on a cross-country road trip pausing solve Murders At barbecue joints retirement communities and more each. Stop was its own social World populated by delightful guest stars like Chloe Sevigny, Nick Nolte and hung chow, and before the Mysteries to get to Cozy Johnson up the steaks and challenged Leone's wabi-sabi stage Persona setting up a second season. That's bound to surprise. Would you be mad if I went somewhere anti-gay for my honeymoon with an arrow premise a team finds overnight Fame as a Justin Bieber clone and his underachieving adult siblings ride his coattails, but it evolved into a sharp consistently hilarious satire of the entertainment industry at large matriarch Pat became a window into the cult of the daytime talk show Queen of the sun carry exemplify, the humiliations of the d-list actor and would be gay icon and sister Brooklyn to swim in shark-infested boardrooms. The show's third and final season was the biggest and smartest of all capturing the demented ambition streaming fatigue and fickle Politics the Define contemporary, Hollywood. Dead ringers a most unlikely reboot was also its most inspired and repurposing David cronenberg's 1988 horror movie about twin OBGYNs torn asunder when one Falls for a glamorous patient Creator Alice Birch entrusted the brilliant Rachel wise with the jewel role originated by Jeremy Irons gender flip the adjustment. The allegory with new layers of meaning this dead ringers meets a moment when women's bodies are a Battleground a Humane birth experience has become a luxury item and the ghosts of brutal reproductive research past past Dark Shadows over the high-tech obstetrics of the present. Telemarketers True Crime docu-series are more numerous. But also more formulaic than ever telemarketers is different drawing on wild footage. He shot a fellow employees cutting up at the anything-goes offices of a notorious telemarketing company co-director, Sam Lipman Stern and Barks on a quest to expose an industry that's even scarier than it seems. Well, the series is mood is late. The investigation couldn't be more serious the former coworker Patrick day pass pass as citizen journalists and moral Beacon Lipman Stern unravels a web of a moral entrepreneurs corrupt police organizations and government power desk. You know, you can tell me anything, right? Of course the curse Nathan Fielder follows last year's brain breaking the rehearsal by teaming up with Benny safdie and Emma Stone for a scripted series The borough's even deeper into the fraught relationships between reality TV on reality and affecting the interactions of a couple of shooting an eco-conscious real estate series for HGTV Fielder and co-creator soft-touch. Third rail issues, like gentrification cultural appropriation and colonialism the Precision with which each episode provokes and unsettle dzeko such masters of productive discomfort as Hitchcock and Kafka. What is your problem? What? GIF what could be more timely than a show about anger Creator Lisa engine cast Ali Wong and Steven young as La drivers whose road rage encounter escalates into a prank war that threatens to ruin. Both of their lives. Each party's Fury is rooted in a lifetime of repression. Will the show isn't about Asian-American identity of person is grounded in the ethnic communities to which the characters belong and specific to protagonist grappling with inequalities stereotyping and the expectations of immigrant parents Darkly hilarious, but also profoundly observant beef pares, the racially tinged negative emotions that the poet Cathy Park Hong Kong famously named minor feeling with major Stakes. Are you guys leaving or you just going to sit there? Rain Dogs. Promise you I will write to Randolph swallows a peep show dancer and aspiring writer struggling to support her tween daughter with dubious help from her recently incarcerated gay best friend. He comes from a possible. She can rarely make rent. He's a sadist she has masochistic Tendencies their toxic together and they know it but they can't stand to be apart Creator cash Carraway strikes the perfect balance of great warmth and skating British humor ensuring that this dramedy neither trivializes its characters pain nor devolves into a pity party. I'm a Virgo the streaming arm of a megacorp led by one of the world's richest people kicked off 2023 hot labor summer with this play Grant Lee anti-capitalist comedy from radical rapper. And sorry to bother you filmmaker boots Riley his real allegory cast. Your LG room is QT a 13 ft tall team folk hero for our time and a gentle giant who must learn that powerful forces with in American society will always see a strong black men as a thug and a threat Riley secret weapons are humor and humanism his message maybe militant, but he delivers it in a package cushioned by laughs love and a lively vision of liberation. succession and reservation dogs This is the rare year when to Series brilliantly in their own ways for filled the potential of Television succession and emmy-winning drama that drove water-cooler conversation was the obvious choice Creator Jesse Armstrong and his virtuosic cast didn't waste a second of the show's final art, which unfolded largely in the aftermath of media Mogul Logan Roy's ingeniously executed men are. Every episode are in the Fanfare that greeted at Swedish Tech as Lord Lucas mats and waging psychological warfare on the Royal kids in Norway that white-knuckle election episode that Tour De Forest funeral episode The bangers just kept coming and the finale made the biggest thing of all ending a race to the bottom that everyone especially the broken rice and beans one. Here to tell you A Tale As Old As Time reservation dogs by contrast never chased the Zeitgeist sterlin. Harjo dramedy chronicled the hijinks of Outsiders Native American teens on a reservation morning a friend who died by Suicide profane poignant a Time psychedelic. The series moves fluidly between adolescent awkwardness small-town character comedy indigenous spirituality and the righteous anger of the disenfranchised. Well, the teenage Rez dogs remained at the show center. It's Circle kept expand until it encompassed the entire Community young and old living and spectral yet. The two shows had plenty in common both were irreverent. Both mixed poetically foul-mouthed comedy and tragedy has had profound things to say about the socio-political realities of our time inside say access through finally Rock characters unique to their worlds. Lonely Masters of the Universe in one case members of a disadvantaged but fiercely loving community and the other together they capture the polarized extreme of American life in the year. 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