How to Sleep on a Plane

Anyone larger than a midget knows that sleeping on a plane is about as easy as avoiding the sun during daylight. Planes also come equipped with a cacophony of mind-numbing sounds. There's the constant hum of pressure stabilization, crying babies, sneezing sickly folk, food carts bumping by and so on and so forth. But rest assured, sleep can be had on a plane.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

1. Stay up late the night before you fly. Even if you have to work the next day, sleep no more than five hours. Work may be painful, but you're not doing anything but instant messaging and reading fart-joke email forwards anyway.

2. Try to get an exit-row seat. Other than that, go with what's best for you. Some taller people prefer the aisle. Some enjoy leaning against the window. Some like to be sandwiched in the middle.

3. Come prepared with ear plugs. Most people don't realize the value. That aforementioned hum is omnipresent, no matter your prevention device. But the crying babies and snoring people will seem to have disappeared.

4. Recline your chair about half way down. You do this so your head can actually rest effortlessly on the seat-back. Otherwise, it could be flailing about and doing that awkward, head-bob-sniffle-instant-wake-up thing that you used to do in junior high math class. Also, don't recline your seat all the way. How much do you hate it when someone does that to you? Right, well the person behind you hates it even more.

5. Close your eyes. Just do this and you'll eventually fall asleep. If you "try" to sleep, you won't sleep. Just close your eyes and carry out your normal thought processes as they come. Soon enough, you'll be snoozing like a small child after warm milk.

Tips & Warnings

• Try to secure space on the arm rest.
• If the head rest has those expandable flaps, pull them forward to lean your head on them.
• In lieu of ear plugs, headphones playing soft music can sometimes work.
• Don't take cold medicine or sleep-inducing pills. These will make you groggy when the plane lands. The only exception might be for flights longer than 8 hours.
• Some people are simply too big for this to work.