Best Advice? Have The Boss Spring For Business Class

Ah, to sleep... perchance to dream. If you're flying commercially, however, there's a rub.

The New York Times reports the difficulty frequent travelers have in catching some shut eye onboard airliners is second only to customer service complaints, on the list of most commonly-heard complaints. And it isn't hard to see why.

One traveler outline his recent 18-hour nonstop trip to Asia. "I watched two movies, slept for five hours, ate three meals, got drunk twice, and I still wasn't there, plus I had a hangover when I did get there," the oil field roustabout said.

Some passengers are taking extreme measures to be able to sleep on a plane. CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machines have become increasingly common onboard airliners. The machines -- which pump air through a mask to keep breathing passages open while sleeping, to combat sleep apnea and other ailments -- have gotten smaller, and easier to take onboard carry-on luggage.

"The machines have shrunk by a third in size in the last few years," Johnny Goodman, cofounder of CPAP.com, told the NYT's Joe Sharkey.

Other passengers resort to prescription sleep aides, such as zolpidem (marketed as Ambien)... though some doctors are reluctant to recommend such measures. One cautions the drug's effects can last as long as seven hours... a potential problem "when you're on a five-hour flight to Atlanta."

Greg Belenky, director of the University of Washington's Sleep and Performance Research Center, approves of careful use of drugs like Ambien... but he doesn't like patients using alcohol to induce sleep. "It’s more trouble than it's worth," he said. "Any alcohol will tend to disrupt sleep later in the evening."

For those preferring a more natural method, melatonin supplements are available in health food stories. The substance mimics "a hormone that’s normally secreted in phase with the circadian rhythm when you’re in the dark and sleeping," Belenky said.

Sharkey himself recommends splurging -- or, better yet, convincing the boss to pay for an upgrade. After all, if you have to travel, you might as well be comfortable... and a bump to business or first class can sometimes be worth its weight in sheep... er, gold.

Belenky agrees. "It's a problem sleeping upright," he said. "The flatter you can get, the better you’ll sleep. When sleeping upright in a tight seat, the body has to push out adrenaline-like compounds to keep the blood flow to the brain adequate."

"My God, when I went to Australia, I took Ambien, melatonin and red wine," added Dr. Barbara Phillips, medical director of the Good Samaritan Health Care Sleep Laboratory at the University of Kentucky. "And I kind of did have a hangover when I got there. It’s hard to sleep on airplanes. The best treatment is to fly business class —-- and you can quote me on that."

Now, if only doctors could prescribe the money -- or a generous boss -- to pay for that upgrade...

FMI: http://ukhealthcare.uky.edu/services/, www.spokane.wsu.edu/researchoutreach/Sleep/index.asp