Sleeping well on a plane: what really helps

When to sleep in flight depends on your destination and your strategy, not on the departure time. On an eastbound night flight, sleeping in line with the night at your destination helps start the adaptation. Fuseo tells you flight by flight.

Alcohol sometimes helps you fall asleep, but it fragments the second half of the night. In the cabin, pressure corresponds to an altitude of up to about 2,400 metres. A study in a chamber reproducing this pressure showed that combining alcohol and altitude reduced deep sleep, lowered blood oxygen and sped up the heart during sleep, even in young, healthy adults.

• blackout mask and earplugs or noise-cancelling headphones;
• window seat so your neighbours don't wake you;
• no caffeine in the hours before you plan to sleep;
• regular hydration, without overdoing it before sleep.