On a Jet Plane

I just do not sleep on long haul flights!

I’m trying to figure out why.

To be clear, when I say long flights, I’m talking about those that last 7 to 8 hours, or more.  And to be perfectly honest, I do sleep on long flights but just 2 or 3 short cat naps; each may last up to 30 minutes but no more.  Surely that doesn’t count as sleep.

I look around at many of my fellow passengers and they sleep the entire flight or most of it.  It seems I’m not blessed that way.  For the life of me, I cannot figure out why my body won’t go to sleep on these flights.  Put me on a 2 hour flight and I’m out like a light if I’m tired but these long haul trips are just the opposite.  No matter how tired I think I am, I just cannot catch some good shut-eye.

I’ve tried different things to nod off but they only work for a few minutes or not at all: ear phones, ear plugs, soothing music, eye mask, no coffee, no tea, no sugar.  Weirdly enough, I’m a lifelong reader but I don’t read on long haul flights so I can’t put myself to sleep that way.  I’m beginning to think it’s not physiological at all.  Am I excited about my journey?  Is it adrenaline?  But I’d expect adrenaline to drop after a couple of hours and leave me knocked out so I’m not sold on the idea that it’s a journey high.

Could it be psychological?  Am I keeping watch on my fellow passengers?  Anybody looks suspicious?  No, I’m not.  They’re all fast asleep and I can honestly say I haven’t paid them much attention since we got off the ground and they all seemed set to behave themselves.  Am I watching the crew?  Am I backseat driving the plane, just in case the pilots don’t know what they’re doing?  Nope.  Again, I think I’m pretty relaxed; well, as relaxed as one can be in an economy seat that doesn’t recline that much, no matter what the airline says.

Of course, it could be some deep-seated psychological reason but if it is, I don’t know what it is.

Sigh.  OK, glass half-full time.

I have a lot more of these long haul flights to take in the foreseeable future so I think I’m going to have to accept that sleeping on them is just not what I do.  On the plus side, it means that when I get to my destination, a solid night’s sleep is easy to come to by.  I’m thinking that goes a long way in combatting jet lag.  I’ll continue to test this theory and see how it works out.

Onward and upward!  Wide awake.