As a frequent flyer, I have a little on-flight ritual that begins right after meal service: close the window tint, spread my ramming swollen blanket, wear my ostrich neck pillow and door & rose sleep mask, pop melatoning mi.
Sometimes the latter allows me to conk the whole flight. We are talking about the Doha route from Dallas for 15 hours. Otherwise, it backfired spectacularly, and I landed, wobbling, loose, resented because I couldn’t fall asleep.
Just because it helps many travelers sleep by taking gummies and pills, it turns out that it doesn’t mean that it’s always the right move. The science behind sleep, and how it works in the extraordinary conditions of long-distance air travel, is more complicated than it appears.
We asked four medical sleep experts to consider whether it is a good or bad idea to receive sleep assistance during the air travel when it is a good or bad idea to receive sleep assistance. This is what they had to say.
What do melatonin and other sleeping pills do?
Melatonin is a hormone that the brain naturally produces in response to the darkness, according to Dr. Neal Walia, a sleep expert at UCLA Health (a network of clinics and hospitals in California). It will help you regulate your circadian rhythm. The internal clock of the body helps you determine when you feel sleepy and when you feel alert.
“It helps to promote sleep pathways in the brain and block awakening signals,” Warrior said, “it has been shown to be the most effective in adjusting sleep schedules.
Unlike prescription sleeping pills that act as sedatives, melatonin won’t knock you out. Instead, it shows your brain that it’s time to start reeling. In other words, melatonin does not induce sleep Allow that. Given that, supplemental melatonin is often pitched as a “natural” sleep aid and is available at the counter in the form of gummies, pills, and even soluble strips.
Then there is a value for pharmacies that other sleep AIDS travelers sometimes turn to: prescription drugs like Ambien and Ativan, antihistamines like Benadril, and even CBD.
“They promote sleep by acting on various chemicals and receptors involved in the sleep process,” says Walia. “Some people are good to fall asleep, while others stay asleep,” he adds, check with your doctor first.
Pros and cons of taking melatonin or another sleep aid while flying
From a scientific perspective, melatonin is most useful not as a sleep aid itself, but as a tool for circadian reorganization. This could be a legitimate asset for long-distance international flights, particularly eastbound flights. In such cases, the appropriate dose of melatonin (usually taken a few hours before target bedtime in a new time zone) can help to shift the internal clock of the body more quickly.
Dr. Jamie Zitzer, professor of research in psychiatry and behavioral sciences, sleep medicine at Stanford University, said for many people, melatonin “has a strong psychological conditioning response. People think that it’s enough to sleep and that it’s enough to actually get them to sleep.”
But here’s the catch. Melatonin is very timing sensitive. Too early or too late, strengthening your body’s current time zone will not only actually make your jet lag worse, but you can actually make your jet lag worse. If you’re flying west, you can confuse the circadian system rather than reconditioning it.
“This can disrupt your sleep schedule later in the day. It makes it difficult to fall asleep, just like taking a nap in the evening,” says Walia.
More importantly, US melatonin supplements are not regulated by the FDA in the same way as prescription drugs, Walia said.
“One previous study on melatonin supplements showed that the actual amount of melatonin in the supplement differed significantly compared to the dosage presented on the label,” Walia said. (2017 analysis) Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine We tested 31 melatonin supplements and found that the actual content changed from minus 83% labels to 478% positive.
The best approach is Dr. Andrea Matsumura, a sleep medicine physician and medical director at Cascadia Health (Integrated Healthcare Provider in Portland, Oregon), to use melatonin as part of a broader jet lag management plan. On long flights, melatonin works best when treating it not as a quick fix, but as one of the puzzles that includes hydration, sleep hygiene and realistic expectations.
Other sleep aids, such as diphenhydramine (benadryl), Zolpidem (Ambien), or benzodiazepines like Ativan, can be more powerful at helping users fall asleep. However, they also have side effects, ranging from dehydration to disgust and sleepwalking. For these reasons, Walia says that medicines are not routinely recommended for flight. Side effects vary from person to person, so “it should involve discussion with a doctor who is well-versed in your medical history.”
Matsumura added that drugs “in certain ways the brain is flooding the brain where it causes sleep, but it doesn’t necessarily help you reach the correct stage of sleep.” In other words, even if you get overnight sleep, it may not rest or recover as much as you need it.
Dr. Katherine Darley, a natural sleep expert and founder of the skilled sleeper online course, put something to sleep, “make sure there’s plenty of time before the drug effects go away. This is usually eight hours.” She also points out that “prevent the drug from mixing with alcohol” is a good idea.
Whatever you do, Waria should not let her get melatonin or sleep medicines on the first plane. Achieving 30,000 feet of side effects is particularly problematic.
It’s ultimately up to you to whether you’re taking melatonin or getting another sleep aid on the flight, but you say, “How you need to be careful when you land, how important it is to get more sleep (although it’s not naturally) and how careful the anxiety that causes you to sleep should fall into your decision equation.”
