AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2017 - 24

FLY WELL

To sleep, perchance
to dream

BY DR. JONATHAN M. SACKIER

Secrets to a restful night
WHEN TRAVELING OVERSEAS, I often fly my airplane
into Dulles International Airport to leave from there.
Controllers are accommodating, airline guys joke on
the ground frequency about gobbling me up on taxiways, and ramp parking is cheaper than garages. I
take a seat on my commercial flight, anticipating the
return leg in my bird.
Except not recently. On the return trip aboard
a big ol' jet airliner of Steve Miller Band fame I
snoozed, didn't booze, but felt jet-lagged. Legally I
was good to go, but piloting myself to Montreal would
have been crazy. I deferred my trip and took an FBO
catnap. Pilots need sleep like every mortal, but especially when planning to fly.
President Ronald Reagan once quipped, "I have
left orders to be awakened at any time in case of

Pilots need sleep like every mortal, but especially
when planning to fly.

DR. JONATHAN SACKIER

answers AOPA
members' medical
questions through
the AOPA Pilot
Protection
Services program
(www.aopa.org/
pps).

24 | AOPA PILOT February 2017

national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting." To prevent you from catching 40 winks while
you read this article, it is littered with nocturnal references-see how many you can put to bed.
Many airline jockeys complain about jet lag and
regulations; FAR Part 117 refers to air crew duty
hours but does not, to my mind, fully consider jet
lag-which varies between individuals, is affected by
age and general health, and changes from trip to trip.
Don't put your head under a pillow, this is important
stuff. Traveling due north or south without crossing
time zones does not cause jet lag, although spending time at altitude in an oxygen-poor environment
will cause fatigue and headaches. Westerly headings
are better tolerated than flying east. On commercial flights, set your watch to the destination time
upon departure and sleep at the "right" time. Stay
hydrated, darken the cabin or wear eye shades, and,
upon waking, sun yourself by opening the window
shade.
Our top-sheet topic is sleep hygiene. Spend the
right time at nighttime in bed, do not defer getting
horizontal, and avoid slothful starts to your day.
Food impedes solid sleep; avoid chocolate, sugar-rich
items, and heavy meals. Excessive salt dehydrates,

demanding water consumption, which leads to bathroom visits.
In the Far East? Fancy a Singapore Sling to catapult you into dozy dreams? Think again. Too much
alcohol can have the opposite effect, compromising
sleep. At home, choose beige for your boudoir, drapes
that extinguish daylight, and soothing light. Watching
TV or working on a computer prior to sleep is counterproductive, as is doing any kind of work in bed.
That room should be reserved for reading something
that does not stretch your mind too much-maybe my
old columns-sleeping, and intimate relationships.
That old advice about not going to bed angry with
your partner? One solution is to sleep on the couch.
In truth, emotional tension sabotages slumber.
When booking hotel rooms, check online
resources for bedbug reports (I use www.bedbug
registry.com). Hotel cost or star rating is irrelevant
and the problem is becoming more widespread.
Entering your hotel room, place nothing on soft furnishings until you're certain this is a bug-free zone.
To see them, close the drapes as, like vampires, bugs
abhor sunlight. Peel back bottom sheets and look for
evidence of infestation: blood spots, or dead or alive
critters-and if present, don't dare doze.
Let's get down to discussing comforters: batting
fills duvets, but snore-filled rooms will drive you
batty. I may be gilding the lily here, but one step you
can take for a better rest is many steps. A day filled
with exercise leads to a dream-filled night.
Snoring jokes aside, you won't be laughing if your
AME diagnoses sleep apnea, requiring you employ a
continuous positive airway pressure machine (CPAP)
to support breathing. This serious condition is often
avoidable by getting in shape-and don't tell me
round is a shape. Some rotund pilots say, "My wife
Elle told me I don't have a beer gut, it's a protective cover for my six-pack." Excess weight reminds
me that "you snooze you lose," because you will not
be ZZ Top dog, and the resulting daytime drowsiness puts you at risk of motor vehicle and aircraft
accidents. Or as has been said by Elle, "My husband
woke me up with his snoring yesterday. 'For goodness sake,' I said, grabbing the wheel, 'Are you trying
to kill us?"
AOPA

http://www.bedbugregistry.com http://www.bedbugregistry.com http://www.aopa.org/pps http://www.aopa.org/pps

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2017