Travelling for business tend to be exciting at first, but once the excitement wears off and travelling itself feels more like of a never-ending routine, you will soon find that frequent business travel will make it difficult for you to keep fit – let alone get a good night sleep.
Between travelling time zones, getting through airport security, hotel check-ins, early morning meetings, and late night networking events, getting good sleep on a business trip can be a real challenge. To help you out, we compiled in this infographic some tips for getting better sleep in your next business travel.
What is Good Quality Sleep?
According to National Sleep Foundation, a good quality sleep have four primary determinants. They include:
- Sleeping more time while in bed (at least 85 percent of the total time)
- Falling asleep in 30 minutes or less
- Waking up no more than once per night; and
- Being awake for 20 minutes or less after initially falling asleep.
While getting a good night’s sleep may seem like an impossible goal when you’re busy preparing for a client presentation next morning, you have much more control over the quality of your sleep than you realise. With right planning and management of your daytime activities, you can enjoy better sleep at night, improve your mental and physical health, and improve how you think and feel during the day.
Tips to Achieve Quality Sleep While Business Travelling
- Adjust Your Sleep Schedule Prior to the Trip
Adjusting your sleep schedule before your flight will help you be more in sync with local time when you land.
For most flights from U.S. East Coast to Europe, where the time is five to seven hours earlier, move your bedtime up an hour earlier each night for a few nights before your trip.
On flights to Western destinations, reverse the pattern by going to bed an hour later each night.
- Schedule Your Flight
If the travel policy allows you to pick your departure and arrival times, choose a flight itinerary which arrives in daylight. This will make it easier to stay awake – you’ll be much more tempted to get out and explore if the sun’s shining and you’ve got a full day ahead of you. Also, this gives you enough time to retrieve your luggage, get to the hotel, unpack, have dinner and turn in at a normal hour.
- Don’t Forget Your Sleep Essentials
Don’t forget to bring a few sleep essentials in your luggage, including:
- Disposable foam earplugs – Block out most ambient noise, but still, let you hear your alarm or wake-up call.
- A sleep mask – Helps tune out other distractions and of course, block light.
- A large binder clip – Can be used to secure curtains panels together to keep the light out in your hotel room.
- Limit Consumption of Caffeine
Studies have shown that caffeine can have a disruptive effect on your sleep. Try to limit your caffeine consumption if you can. Caffeine after 2 pm will definitely interfere with your sleep cycles – the same goes for nicotine and alcohol. A bottle of beer may enable you to sleep faster, but that will be a poor quality sleep and worst, you may not wake up feeling rested.
- Avoid Exposure to Blue Light Hours Before Bedtime
Most business travellers spend anywhere from 3 to over 8 hours looking at screens of their mobile phones and laptops. Unfortunately, the blue light emitted by these devices can disrupt your sleep cycle by suppressing the release of melatonin aka the sleep hormone.
If your schedule is really tight that you need to use these devices before going to bed, then consider using a blue-light-blocking glasses, turn on the blue light filter on your laptop/mobile phone, or simply turn down the brightness to reduce your exposure to blue light.
- Follow Your Routine
As much as possible, follow the same pre-bed routine on the road that you do at home. Wash your face, brush your teeth, have some light workout, etc., just like normal to try to trick your brain into thinking you’re in your own bed.
By following the tips above, you will be able to achieve better sleep on your next business trip!
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