6 Tips To Enjoy Better Sleep While Traveling
July 12, 2021Traveling can be a magnificent experience where we discover a plethora of new things and relish different moments. They can be either vacation tours that act as respites to the busy schedules of life or work-related trips. The magical experience of traveling, when paired with disruption of the sleep cycle, often leaves us grumpy and snuffs out our enthusiasm. Traveling across time zones especially can leave your brain dazy and your mind jittery. To fully revel in your travel journeys, we have combined a list of tips that will enhance your sleep quality while traveling.
1. Carry a Travel Pillow and Blanket
Sleeping in alien surroundings can be a tricky task because your brain is more vigilant due to the unknown nature of your surroundings. To combat this, you can carry pillows and blankets to comfort you. The feel and the scent of these can be pretty helpful in inducing sleep. There are myriads of amazing sites like Sensolife DE that cater to your needs and provide you with high-quality comfort pillows and blankets. The velvety textures help in therapeutic sleeping, and the pillows act as great head supports that prevent aches after a good sleep. With these sleep props, you can enhance your sleep experiences and travel vibrantly.
2. Facilitating Changing Sleep Patterns
Transitioning from one time zone to another presents a significant challenge during your travel plans. Getting adjusted to the new time zone without actually giving in to fatigue is nearly impossible, and this is why you should start training your minds to combat this shift.
Depending on whether your time zone is ahead or behind your destination’s time zone, sleep an hour later or early each day and continue this until your body gets adjusted to the timezone of your destination. You can begin with this prep about three to four days before your trip because we do not want your normal sleep cycle to be modified dramatically over a long period of time! This planning ahead goes a long way in helping you through this transition!
3. Take Melatonin
The upsurge of the hormone called Melatonin takes place before two hours of sleep, and this hormone is crucial to inducing sleep. While consuming 10mg or below Melatonin is a form of over-the-counter pills, consuming them after consulting your family doctor or a general practitioner is still advisable.
There is another safer and natural alternative to these sleeping pills, and this comes in the form of the food that we intake. Foods like dairy products, walnuts, almonds, lettuce, spinach, kale, tuna, salmon, cherries, herbal tea, bananas, and whole grains help your body in the release of melatonin and serotonin. These, in turn, help your body to get relaxed and fall into a peaceful slumber even amidst traveling.
4. Avoiding Caffeine and Alcohol
While there are rumors about alcohol being an agent that can induce sleep circulating around, you can be rest assured that it is a hoax. Alcohol disrupts your sleep cycle and makes it erratic. Besides, consumption of alcohol right around travel journeys might lead to terrible hangovers as well.
So, the best plausible option is to forgo alcohol or consume it in moderation to avoid its drastic impacts on your sleep quality during traveling. Caffeine is a stimulant that activates your body’s nerves, and your nerves tingle, buzz, and come alive after caffeine intake through soft drinks or coffee.
In order to be able to sleep during traveling, avoid consumption of caffeine in any form. This will help in eliminating the chemicals that might make your body drowsy and help you to ease off into a snooze!
5. Headphones to the Rescue
Quite often, we are used to sleeping in solitude away from the chaos and noise. While we travel, the chances of being surrounded by noises are very high. Be it the echoes of a baby wailing, or the whispers of people lost in conversation, or the shrills of the traffic; these noises can disrupt your sleep.
With the advent of technology, we are no more foreign to devices that can aid us in canceling out the noises. To avoid getting intruded by these unwelcome noises, you can simply carry noise-canceling headphones. These headphones can block out all those unnecessary background commotions and ease you off into sleep. You can also use eye masks to cool your eyes and get better sleep!
You can also listen to therapeutic music that can induce sleep. We all know how the rhythm and prowess of music can soothe our minds and calm the storms of thoughts. It is time to give it a try and drift off into the world of dreams with the help of music to enjoy better sleep while traveling!
6. Choose a Room with the Best Sleep Amenities
So far, we have covered the ways to enhance sleep quality while you are in the middle of traveling. However, it is crucial to think about better sleep once you arrive at your destination. It is recommended that you do your homework by researching the various hotels to avoid the last moment scruples. Avoid lower floor rooms because these are the rooms that are often exposed to various sounds that might hinder your sleep.
Also, remember to book hotels with sleep amenities if you have trouble sleeping in an alien environment. Dream menus consisting of aromatherapy diffusers, heating pads, water pillows, and foam neck pillows can go a long way in assisting your mind in settling in the ambiance quickly. Therefore, book a hotel that can help you better sleep beforehand to avoid hunting for hotels at the last moment! Because we all know how exhausting it can be!
Final Thoughts
Traveling is one of the most memorable experiences of life, full of curiosity and the desire to explore the world. Follow these tips to enhance your traveling experiences and relish the caressing of the breeze, the warmth of the golden sun, the chatter with the locals of various places, and visit all the destinations on your bucket list without sacrificing quality sleep! Happy traveling!