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Red Eye Tips

Old 06-27-2021, 01:48 PM
  #31  
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What works for me:

My body clock is on East Coast theatre. When I get into my West Coast layover that’ll be followed by a red eye home, I try to stay up as long as possible. I mean really late. Go out, have a drink. Play on the phone, listen to a podcast/music, whatever it takes to stay up. Fall asleep around 2-3 am pacific time. Sleep in until at least noon if possible. (3 pm EST). I’ll be landing at home at 6-7am the following day so that’s about 16 hours of wake time. No problemo. Got to keep experimenting to find what works for you. Good luck, I know how much it sucks to show up tired for a red eye. Reminds me of that Charles Lindbergh passage.

Last edited by El Peso; 06-27-2021 at 02:01 PM.
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Old 06-27-2021, 05:34 PM
  #32  
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Originally Posted by El Peso View Post
Reminds me of that Charles Lindbergh passage.
I always tell myself that when struggling on a red eye, or when I used to fly cargo. If that guy could do what he did, I can suffer for 5 hours.


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Old 06-27-2021, 09:42 PM
  #33  
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Originally Posted by freezingflyboy View Post
My redeye pro tips would be the 5 S's (I can't take credit, these were passed down to me). These have served me well doing multiple redeye's per month for years now:
S schedule shifting (stay up late, wake up early)
S segmented sleeping (multiple 4-5 hour sleep opportunities vs one long one)
S kip the caffeine day of (at least until show time)
S un exposure (stimulates natural melatonin production)
S leep opportunity (prepare and plan for good nap - 4-5 hours. But don't get worked up if you find sleep elusive.)

The final thing I'll add is a good workout, whatever that means to you. I always sleep better when I've had a good workout or been very active that day.
This is what I do, I limited my sleeps to no more than 4 1/2 hours then do what I need to shift my schedule. Get a good workout in after wake up and stay after. When it’s time to wind down, put the devices down and tv goes off.
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Old 06-27-2021, 09:43 PM
  #34  
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Originally Posted by freezingflyboy View Post
My redeye pro tips would be the 5 S's (I can't take credit, these were passed down to me). These have served me well doing multiple redeye's per month for years now:
S schedule shifting (stay up late, wake up early)
S segmented sleeping (multiple 4-5 hour sleep opportunities vs one long one)
S kip the caffeine day of (at least until show time)
S un exposure (stimulates natural melatonin production)
S leep opportunity (prepare and plan for good nap - 4-5 hours. But don't get worked up if you find sleep elusive.)

The final thing I'll add is a good workout, whatever that means to you. I always sleep better when I've had a good workout or been very active that day.
This is what I do, I limited my sleeps to no more than 4 1/2 hours then do what I need to shift my schedule. Get a good workout in after wake up and stay after. When it’s time to wind down, put the devices down and tv goes off.
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Old 06-28-2021, 02:21 AM
  #35  
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Another vote for Zojirushi!
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Old 06-28-2021, 07:38 PM
  #36  
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Originally Posted by marcal View Post

….The best thing is to nap in the seat for 20-30 ala “controlled rest”, like the rest of the entire world except our FAA doesn’t think our passengers are “ready” for that.
which is what is infuriating about the quest to go to a single pilot. “Nope
, totally unsafe for one pilot out of 2 to nap, leaving a single pilot flying and one capable of flying pretty quickly…but yeah single pilot the whole flight, that’s fine”

I don’t think it will ever be safe to fly single pilot red eyes.
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Old 06-29-2021, 10:05 AM
  #37  
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I recently tried a new method as far as napping before a RE. The evening before, I limit my sleep to 4-5 hours, even though my body obviously wants 8 hours. Once awake, I limit caffeine intake to maybe half a cup of coffee, or avoid it altogether. Then around 1500, I go down for that nap, and usually I am so dog tired by that point, I don’t have a problem getting in 5-6 hours of sleep. YMMV.
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Old 06-29-2021, 12:06 PM
  #38  
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Originally Posted by Slop View Post
I recently tried a new method as far as napping before a RE. The evening before, I limit my sleep to 4-5 hours, even though my body obviously wants 8 hours. Once awake, I limit caffeine intake to maybe half a cup of coffee, or avoid it altogether. Then around 1500, I go down for that nap, and usually I am so dog tired by that point, I don’t have a problem getting in 5-6 hours of sleep. YMMV.
Exactly what I do. It's worked well for me for a long time now. The trick is to skip the caffeine. I'll usually have a cup of coffee when I wake up the morning before a redeye but always make sure not to have any more caffeine after about 10am that day.
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Old 06-29-2021, 01:19 PM
  #39  
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Originally Posted by El Peso View Post
What works for me:

My body clock is on East Coast theatre. When I get into my West Coast layover that’ll be followed by a red eye home, I try to stay up as long as possible. I mean really late. Go out, have a drink. Play on the phone, listen to a podcast/music, whatever it takes to stay up. Fall asleep around 2-3 am pacific time. Sleep in until at least noon if possible. (3 pm EST). I’ll be landing at home at 6-7am the following day so that’s about 16 hours of wake time. No problemo. Got to keep experimenting to find what works for you. Good luck, I know how much it sucks to show up tired for a red eye. Reminds me of that Charles Lindbergh passage.

Same. I am east coast based and most of our redeyes are out of LAS. Usually the night before I get to the hotel in LAS around 10pm pacific (1am domicile time). Since the hotel is right off the strip I'll get changed and go out, eat a small meal, and between that and the strip I'm wide awake. I'll stay out half the night and sleep half of the next day, with a nap right before I head back to the airport. 60% of the time it works every time.
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Old 06-30-2021, 12:27 PM
  #40  
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Originally Posted by Slop View Post
I recently tried a new method as far as napping before a RE. The evening before, I limit my sleep to 4-5 hours, even though my body obviously wants 8 hours. Once awake, I limit caffeine intake to maybe half a cup of coffee, or avoid it altogether. Then around 1500, I go down for that nap, and usually I am so dog tired by that point, I don’t have a problem getting in 5-6 hours of sleep. YMMV.
I'm sure that would work for me, but I don't want to start taking QOL hits on my day off. Aside from not getting roaring drunk the day before a trip.

I do mostly avoid back-to-back redeyes, or mid-trip redeyes... so as long as I go into day one well rested and healthy I have a lot of momentum through the wee hours.

Originally Posted by freezingflyboy View Post
Exactly what I do. It's worked well for me for a long time now. The trick is to skip the caffeine. I'll usually have a cup of coffee when I wake up the morning before a redeye but always make sure not to have any more caffeine after about 10am that day.
That's a QOL hit. Maybe worse.
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