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Sleeping Habits During Traveling—Do They Matter?

When you travel abroad and quickly move through various time zones, there are pretty serious changes that happen to your body

By Tiffany HarperPublished 5 years ago 5 min read
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Simply put, your body’s internal clock will have a hard time adapting because of the sudden change of environment.

When your body clock is de-synced, various problems may arise: you may have a hard time falling asleep, it may be hard to wake up, and your energy and emotional moods might become unstable. A common term for these consequences is “jet lag."

When you’re traveling eastward, you need to advance your sleep rather than delay it. That’s a harder thing to do, and sleep problems may arise more often in this case.

WebMD suggests that for each hour of the time change, our body requires one day to adapt and adjust to the current time zone. Therefore, you must take certain measures before, during, and after you're actually traveling in order to help your mind and body adjust to your schedule. Especially if you need to finish your writing, due to the timezone changes it might be that your schedule has changed totally. Of course, you can order some help with essay, but when you lack time, in this situation even the best professional essay writing service or paper help reviews won't help you.

Due to the fact that sleeping habits during traveling are extremely important, I’ll provide several key tips and tricks to properly sync your internal body clock while traveling. Pay attention and apply.

  • Once you plan your trip, start adjusting your sleep time according to the time zone you’ll be staying in. Start one or two weeks before your traveling time arrives.
  • Just before you get on the plane, bus, or car, fix your watch and have it aligned it with the new time zone.
  • While you’re on the road, make sure you keep your eyes open. Don’t sleep, as there is no reason to miss beautiful things that you’re supposed to see.
  • Understand that hydration is very interconnected with sleeping. The more you keep your body hydrated, the easier it will be to fall asleep and to wake up. Make sure you consume a lot of fluids (water, not sodas or alcohol).
  • When you arrive at the new place, even if you feel like sleeping for 10 hours, make sure you take a quick nap (no longer than two hours). Ideally, you should have a power nap.
  • Perform some research to understand the true benefits of “power naps.” These power naps are 30-minute naps that regenerate your mind and body before you enter a specific deep-rest sleep cycle. “This is particularly good while you’re on the road (if you really need to sleep), but also during busy afternoons," says Peter Brown, the freelance designer who works at sometimes with custom writing service and top essay writing services, Edubirdie review.
  • Sleep problems often arise while traveling, but that doesn’t have to be the case all the time. If you’re an unfortunate case, one of the most effective ways to move past it is to take melatonin. This is the main substance that is responsible for your sleep efficiency and health, and you can consume it in various forms. Just to be safe, make sure you take some pills with you in case you have a really hard time falling asleep.
  • You shouldn’t neglect exercising. If you exercise regularly, this shouldn’t be a problem for you, as you can always find 15 to 30 minutes to perform your daily physical exercise. Make sure you do it outdoors, as light can often help you reset your internal body clock.
  • Vacation is the perfect moment to relax and to cut loose of responsibilities. However, indulging in harmful substances like tobacco, alcohol, too much caffeine, or god forbid drugs (which goes especially for younger people who go to clubs) is a truly bad decision. Stay away from these to ensure a natural sleep cycle adjustment.
  • Engage with other people and keep yourself busy. After all, you got only so much time to make the best out of your vacation. Mark Barrel, middle content and business development manager at studybay review and essayshark review, says “Every time you communicate with people, there’s an energy exchange. If you meet happy, enthusiastic, and motivated people, you’ll gain a lot of energy!”
  • Get a blanket and a pillow from home. The smells and the texture of these objects will help your mind subconsciously believe that you’re sleeping in your own bed. This will help you fall asleep faster!
  • Try to book accommodation in quiet zones. If that is not a possibility, at least request the quietest room of the hotel. Ensure that there are no elevators or noisy entrance areas so you won’t be disturbed by every person who will get in or get out of the place.
  • Lastly yet very importantly, make sure that your room’s thermostat is set to the temperature that you’re used to at home.

Final Words

Sleeping is the most critical health aspect that human beings need to carefully look after. While nutrition is essential and can make the difference between a healthy mind and body, you can still function normally if you don’t get it right. However, the lack of proper sleep will cause way more serious immediate consequences.

If you don’t sleep, you won’t be able to eat. Your energy will be low, as well as your motivation and drive to do anything with your day. Anxiety, depression, and neurosis are some of the most common effects of sleep deprivation, and it also decreases cognitive functions. Nevertheless, sleeping habits should always be adjusted while you’re traveling, just to ensure that none of these disempowering effects will happen.

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About the Creator

Tiffany Harper

Tiffany Harper began her career as a journalist in the educational publishing house. Now she works as an experienced expert writer, mostly in education, business, and technology area. Please, contact her on Twitter.

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