You love to travel but you’re a terrible light sleeper, right? As a traveler - no matter where you are, snoozing enough is a struggle!
There’s no specific scientific reason why some people can fall asleep anywhere and others can’t, but you can improve your sleep quality with practice — whether you’re at home or country-hopping.
It isn’t just the shift in time zones that disrupts rest. Sleep has a lot to do with routine, so when everything changes, it makes it harder to get the recommended seven to nine hours. Here are 5 sleep tricks for frequent travelers:
Wake up, live, sleep – repeat.
Living in a new city for a month at a time isn’t easy, and every destination has its own customs that interfere with your routine. Your bedtime and morning alarm might shift with each new destination, but try to maintain it depending on location.
Give yourself permission to stay out later or call it an early night, but for at least four nights a week go to sleep around the same time. More so, always get up and get to work at the same time, no matter how much sleep you get.
Do that thing you do
Activity in any sense is healthy for sleep. The first portion of sleep is about refreshing the body. If your body isn’t tired, it won’t generate much sleep pressure – which makes falling asleep more difficult.
Put it on to sleep it off
For light sleepers, setting yourself up for restful sleep with earplugs, eye-masks, and other accessories is a smart tactic. Most bedrooms get light pollution, and you need to minimize that to convince your brain it's the night time. While moldable, mushy earplugs help cancel noise contamination, creating a good sleep environment.
Turn down for what
Download an hour-long loop of white noise to play as you get used to a new place. There are also helpful noise apps you can use. Or, you could opt for old faithful – a sound machine.
Just take it easy
If you’re not sleeping, keep those eyes shut and remind yourself you’ll be just fine. Stop stressing yourself out over the fear of not sleeping, and you’ll manage to squeeze in at least a few hours.