Use these expert tips on how to sleep on an overnight flight for your next redeye | Photo by LightFieldStudios via Envato.

How to get better-quality sleep on the plane

by Amanda Burgess

As women, we know that travel exacerbates sleep issues.  We sat down with sleep expert Shawna Robins, author of Powerful Sleep: Rest Deeply, Repair Your Brain and Restore Your Life – to talk through her top tips to find out how to get better-quality sleep on an overnight flight.

Let’s face it: Women the world over are sleep-deprived. We’re overworked. Overstressed. Some of us make unhealthy food choices, particularly after a restless night. We’re on our screens far too often. And it’s impacting more than our sleep quality, energy, focus, careers and family life. According to research from Columbia University Irving Medical Center, it’s having a longer-term impact on our health. The 2020 study, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, found that women with worse overall sleep quality not only have a greater risk of heart disease but consume more of the added sugars associated with obesity and diabetes. Sobering findings, particularly in the pandemic era, where stress and worry have many of us reaching for unhealthy comfort food.

Why women need to make sleep a priority 

“Of the six million Americans diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, two-thirds are women,” Robins says. “Part of the factor with Alzheimer’s is that women don’t sleep. They don’t sleep because of their hormones. They don’t sleep because of their kids. They don’t sleep because of their worries, stress and anxieties, and it sets them up for neurodegenerative diseases as they age.

According to Robins, heart disease is the number-one killer of women. When you sleep your blood pressure naturally drops, so if you don’t sleep and your blood pressure stays elevated, that causes irreparable damage to the heart valves and cardiac walls.

“Sleep is an amazing gift that you can give yourself that can create amazing amounts of healing in your body,” she says.

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How to prepare for a good night’s sleep on an overnight flight

Sleeping on a plane in the best of conditions (in a comfy First Class pod) can be challenging. Finding a comfortable, sustainable sleep position in Economy seating is an exercise in squirming frustration. Wherever you’re seated, there are some things you can do to ensure better rest, if not a full sleep cycle on an overnight flight.

1. Don’t take a prescription sleep aid (eg. Benzos or Ambien)

“As a health and wellness coach, I’m against prescription sleep aids,” Robins says. “People want to get on a plane and take an Ambien or anti-anxiety meds. Maybe these are prescriptions or maybe they keep a bottle and take one every once in a while. I caution against doing that on a plane. There are so many things that can go wrong. Take melatonin instead.”

2. Don’t drink alcohol or binge-watch movies

“You want to limit your alcohol consumption on flights. Alochol is a big sleep buster, and it messes not only with your blood sugar but with your REM sleep when you have it before bed,” Robins says. “I know people like to have a drink to relax on a plane. If you want to have a glass when you get on the flight, maybe three hours or so before you would naturally go to sleep, great. But I wouldn’t have much more. It’s going to dehydrate you. It’s going to affect your sleep. It’s going to make you feel worse when you land.”

Same goes for watching movies on repeat. The blue light of electronics and the mental stimulation won’t do you any favours in the sleep department. Watch one movie in the early leg of an overnight flight and switch to reading (in night mode if you’re reading on an e-reader or tablet, and wear blue light blockers).

3. Drink 8 oz of water for every hour on the flight

Ditch the booze in favour of water. It helps keep you hydrated, key for air travel, which tends to dehydrate you. But be sure to stop drinking three hours or so before you would naturally fall asleep to avoid having to wake up and use the restroom. Be sure to drink more water upon waking near the end of your flight.

4. Create a sleep sanctuary in your seat

Eat your dinner, brush your teeth, and get cozy. Whatever is in your sleep routine at home, keep it up on the plane. Do you listen to music or an audiobook? Do you meditate? Bring that in to your in-flight wind-down.

“I’ve got to be able to block out the light, so I bring a sleep mask,” Robins says. “I’ve got to be able to block out the noise, so I bring noise-cancelling headphones or earplugs to get sleep on an overnight flight. I also really need a weighted blanket on me, so I bring a heavy, warm coat. I get cold on airplanes, so it kills two birds with one stone. If I can do those three things and take a melatonin, I can typically knock off for six hours, which is about all I can do on a flight.”  (Find recommended earplugs/noise-cancelling headphones and a sleeping mask here.)

Editor’s note: This article was originally written in 2020 and updated in 2025. 

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