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Catching 40 winks after catching plane

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Special to The Times

The plan seemed simple enough. I would catch a flight at LAX and connect in Phoenix, where my sister, Maureen, would board, and we would fly together to Indianapolis. We surfed the Web for airfares. She found a 7 a.m. departure that was to her liking. I found an 11 p.m. takeoff that suited me better.

We may be twins, but our preferences are far from identical. Maureen considers red-eye flights legalized torture. I’m so fond of them I call them “overnighters.” After a cup of hot chocolate, I conk out until I hear, “Ladies and gentlemen, we have begun our descent into....” Those late-night flights seem efficient and less stressful to me: You can work all day with no worries about oversleeping and missing a morning flight.

Even steadfast daytime travelers like Maureen sometimes must take a red-eye, although this time we went our separate ways, meeting at the destination.

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Sleep experts say younger people and those who can sleep in pretzel positions do better on red-eye flights than older people or those who require the comfort of their own bed. “As you get older, sleep changes,” says Mark Rosekind, a psychologist and former scientist at NASA who is a consultant for Alertness Solutions in Cupertino, Calif., a firm that helps businesses with sleep and fatigue problems. Sleep becomes less efficient around age 50, he says. People tend to wake more often during the night and sleep less deeply.

Some older people do just fine on red-eyes, but they’re the ones with the “cast-iron nervous systems,” says Dr. Virgil Wooten, medical director of TriHealth Sleep Centers in Cincinnati. “I’m not a cast-iron sleeper,” says Wooten, who avoids red-eyes. “I think they are either born or made early on.”

Here are some keys to helping you sleep on a plane:

* Get into training. “Our bodies love routine,” Wooten says. “You can train yourself that it is time to relax and go to sleep.” The key is to practice at home.

Start a pre-bedtime routine that will relax you and that can be duplicated on the plane. “That might be reading a good book, settling in with a glass of milk, whatever makes you comfortable,” Rosekind says.

* Take something familiar and comfortable from home. “Walk through any airport and you are likely to see an adolescent girl walking through with her pillow,” Rosekind says. While other travelers might laugh at these teenagers, he says, “the reality is, they get it.”

* Practice mental relaxation or deep breathing exercises before falling asleep at home, then do them on the plane before takeoff. “The key is you practice at home so you are comfortable with it,” Rosekind says.

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* Visual imagery, practiced in the seat, also might help you snooze, Wooten says. “Imagine a favorite relaxation place, go through all the senses, and imagine what it looked like, the sensation on your skin,” he suggests.

* On the day of the red-eye flight, try to exhaust yourself before departure, Rosekind says. “Get up a little early. Push yourself during the day so you’ll be tired when you get on the plane.”

* Avoid alcohol and caffeine for at least six hours before departure, Wooten advises. Although alcohol may initially cause you to fall asleep, it tends to disturb sleep within a few hours. “Alcohol also tends to interfere with acclimating to a new time zone,” he says.

Sleeping pills are not a good idea if the flight is only three or four hours, says Dr. Meir Kryger, a professor of medicine at Canada’s University of Manitoba and director of the Sleep Disorders Center at St. Boniface General Hospital in Manitoba. “You’ll have a hangover,” he says. “Some of the drugs will be left in your body” when you arrive at your destination.

* Consider buying a sleep mask and earplugs to drown out the light and noise. Sleep-Eze Eyeshades, made of lightweight nylon, come with a set of foam earplugs and cost $4.50 at Distant Lands, 56 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena, (800) 310-3220, www.distantlands.com. Eagle Creek Travel Ear Plugs are washable and reusable and cost about $5 from Distant Lands or Magellan’s, 1006 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, (800) 962-4943, www.magellans.com. Eagle Creek also offers a Comfort Eye Shade for about $10, available through either Magellan’s or Distant Lands.

* Make sure you’re not disturbed while you’re trying to nap. “Have a chat with the flight attendant,” Kryger says. Request that he or she not wake you up for movies, food, headsets or beverages.

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If you don’t sleep through the entire flight, don’t sweat it, Rosekind says. A short nap still boosts performance and alertness. “Even a little sleep is better than none.”

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The Healthy Traveler column appears twice a month. Kathleen Doheny can be reached at kathleendoheny@earthlink.net.

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