9 Great Tools To Really Get A Peaceful Sleep While Travelling
Some of the biggest threats to your sleep involve the functioning of the world around you. Despite your best efforts to avoid things that would disturb your sleep, they can't always be mitigated. Thankfully, people have been travelling and sleeping in new environments for a long time. Due to this, there have been many ideas and sleep hacks developed to combat the things that wish to disturb your sleep.
Sleeping while travelling can be a challenge for some people. Between planes, buses, trains, and new environments, life is full of things that wake you up. From Ear plugs to meditation, in this post, we'll go over some beneficial tools for sleeping while travelling.
Ensuring proper sleep goes a long way in keeping your travel enjoyable. If you fail to sleep well, you might not be motivated to go out and experience what the world has to offer. It might also cause you to spend more money on accommodations to avoid noisier environments.
Looking for some essential minimalist travel tips and tricks to get you started? Check out the post below!
The author
Table Of Contents
Ear Plugs
Noise Cancelling Earbuds
Portable Fan
Sound Machine and Application
Eye Mask and Blackout Curtains
Travel Pillow
Sleeping Bag Liner
Dedicated Urination Bottle
Habits
Conclusion
Ear Plugs
Noise is one of the things that threaten our sleep the most. Airport hotels that have planes constantly landing. Noisy downtown hotels where traffic never ceases. Hostels where your bunkmate snores so badly it actually sounds like he's choking on his tongue. There are many sources of noise that might keep us up at night. Perhaps the best tool to facilitate restful and undisturbed sleep is earplugs. If you're a light sleeper, you might already use these at home to keep out the sound.
Sometimes the standard foam earplugs work, but they have their issues when people thrash in their sleep. They also aren't always the most robust as far as their sound-dampening properties. Instead, go with a moldable version that is custom-fit once moulded. Doing this provides the most amount of noise isolation, and they often are made to be flush with your ear so they fall out less often.
Be cautious of using these when you need to remain somewhat alert. It would be a bad situation if you woke up to find your window was already broken or you missed your wake-up phone call for that 3 am flight due to sleeping (perhaps) too peacefully. Sometimes being somewhat alert while sleeping can be a safer alternative to blocking out the entire world around you.
Noise Cancelling Earbuds
If earplugs aren't your favourite items to wear, there are a few more options thanks to the advances in technology in the last few years. Perhaps you dislike how earplugs feel, or you want to play a meditation track or the sounds of the ocean. Wireless earbuds/ headphones with noise cancellation are a great option for blocking out noise when trying to sleep while travelling.
If your earbuds offer any type of noise cancellation, they can work in place of earplugs. Another benefit is that you can choose to drift off to sleep with your favourite track playing. Over-the-ear headphones are also great at this and can provide even more noise isolation.
The negative of using battery-operated earbuds is that they will eventually run out of battery. Despite the limited battery life, using noise-cancelling earbuds can be perfect for a nap, or if you just need to keep the noise out while falling asleep.
The noise cancellation feature is great for more than just sleeping. If you're an introvert and struggle to recharge via isolation, noise cancelling earbuds are critical.
Portable Fan
Some people need a fan to sleep with, and they're not guaranteed to be available wherever you sleep. The benefits of fans are that they move air around to keep you cooler, and they can provide a white noise that can help mask some sounds.
Hopefully, your accommodations have a fan. If not, you can use a portable/ rechargeable fan. You can even bring one camping with you if you want it badly enough. In a van, having a roof-mounted fan can help immensely with temperature regulation and act as a noise machine. Otherwise, you can read more about how to find the best spots for sleeping in your van.
Temperature is incredibly important when trying to sleep peacefully at night. Having the option to have cool air run across you can help keep you cooler at night. Better yet is if you can bring in cooler air than the inside of your sleeping space. While travelling in my van, I've noticed how hard it is for me to sleep when the temps are hot. While it can take a little while for my van to cool down at night, I've found that using my fan to exhaust the warm air from the day, and keeping a window cracked created great airflow for a perfect sleeping environment at night.
Sound Machine and Applications
If a fan is not possible, and you still need some sort of white noise to sleep with, having a white noise machine or application can be really beneficial. There exists dedicated machines, soundtracks, and applications that exist exclusively for this purpose.
White noise machines are great for their intended purpose. I've used one that has been running non-stop for years. It works incredibly well when I have the space and the power to keep it running. Unfortunately, a lot of the at-home units don't travel well.
If you're like me and want to transition all of your belonging to multi-use, you can also use applications to do the same thing. Whether on your phone or an AI assistant like Alexa, there are solutions to create white noise for improved sleep. Downloading a white noise track on Spotify and setting it on repeat for a certain amount of hours works too!
Keep in mind that using your phone to do this will cause your battery to drain a bit faster.
Eye Mask and Blackout Curtains
The second biggest threat to your sleep might be light. As nice as naps are on the beach or in a hammock when it comes time to lay down for the night, being in a dark room is important. Fortunately, humans have adapted many ways to combat light while sleeping.
One of the most common items is an eye mask. They come in many different forms, but most will work for their intended purpose. There exist some that allow your eyes to move, that are cooled, that have pretty designs, etc. In a more minimalistic way, you can opt for a neck gaiter to achieve a similar result. I prefer this option as I get more uses out of one particular item as opposed to one that serves a single purpose.
If you're in a van or a tiny home, another great option is quality blackout curtains. I've gone through a few sets in my time. One way I check the actual quality of light blocking is by placing a flashlight on one side of the curtain to test the blocking quality. The added benefit of curtains is that they also provide some insulation properties by keeping air on either side of the curtain. They can also provide some noise insulation properties.
Travel Pillow
To ensure you get good sleep, it's also a good idea to keep the basics covered. Sometimes you might find yourself in an unconventional place to sleep or the provided bedding just doesn't cut it. Pillows can make or break a sleep. While you can use a bench as a bed, clothes as a blanket, and sometimes a jacket or clothing as a pillow, having a dedicated pillow can make a big difference.
There are many panaceas to your pillow problems depending on your situation. On a plane, you can use a neck pillow. If you're camping or sleeping in a normal way, you can use a real pillow. Since they're usually too large to use, a travel variant might be a better option. I've slept in places with terribly uncomfortable and questionably moist pillows. As long as it's more comfortable than the pillow you're trying to replace, you'll be set up for a good night's rest.
When travelling, especially if you'll be a passenger in a vehicle, a travel pillow can make a big difference. The widely recommended variant wraps around your neck. While they have their faults, finding the right one can work.
There exist variants that can cradle your neck to one side, create a mini cave for your entire head (I have yet to see this one in the wild), be air-filled, memory foam, or even buckwheat. As comfortable as some of those options are, I found a well-made, air-inflatable pillow to provide me with the most comfort due to the packability and customization of support.
Sleeping Bag Liner
Sometimes you'll book accommodations that are a bit dirtier or less comfortable than you would have thought. You may also find yourself with sleeping bags that aren't holding up to your extensive use. A solution to these problems is the sleeping bag liner.
Sleeping bag liners, while often used for the purpose in their name, are a great tool to travel with to help get good sleep. Having a backup blanket can help ensure you get quality sleep no matter the bedding situation you've found yourself in. It can help you remain isolated from the blankets sheets, and pillows letting you sleep well even in a questionably clean bed.
Another benefit (aka using it for its intended purpose) is to use it as a liner for sleeping bags. They help by creating more space that traps air, another insulating layer, and as a way to keep your actual sleeping bag clean(er). Keeping your bag clean, in turn, ensures it keeps more insulating properties instead of the loft becoming bogged down with oils and moisture.
Sleeping bag liners also work as bedding when you're on an extended layover or travel delay. Add the liner to your travel pillow and you're set to get some shut-eye in any environment. They also work by allowing you to have a lighter layer of bedding if you're in a warm environment.
Dedicated Urination Bottle
This one might be seen as a bit of a taboo topic, but it remains an important tool to help with sleeping while travelling. Perhaps it does not apply to all circumstances, but van life and camping are two ways of travelling that having a urination bottle come in handy. Ever wake up needing to heed nature's call, but you don't want to leave your bed or sleeping bag?
Sometimes, our home for the night doesn't have plumbing. A common trick for this is to have a bottle dedicated to this purpose. It means you don't need to get fully dressed to use the washroom. Instead, you can do your business in the safety of your tent or van without needing to get dressed and leave the comfort of your home. Be sure to empty it as soon as you can in an appropriate area!
This hack is a skill you need to develop, so be sure to practice before it's showtime. I couldn't imagine a worse disruption to your night than missing or spilling the bottle. I have had great success with a 32 oz Nalgene. The more opaque the bottle, the better. I had a few old ones lying around, so I used this bottle, but most bottles with a wide mouth will do. Women might need another tool called a urination funnel to increase their chances of success using a urination bottle.
Habits
Much like what I mentioned in this post about having a routine, your habits and routine will help immensely with the quality of sleep you have when travelling. On top of all the standard sleep hygiene points, tricks like meditation can help a lot with slowing down your thoughts so you can relax.
In the past, I've used applications like Headspace with much success. You might even get to a point where you no longer need the app and the guided meditations. I found that through the practice of meditation, I was able to think more clearly and be concerned less with everything else I needed to do rather than focusing on what I was doing.
Having a routine that you stick to also helps. An action like washing yourself before you get into your comfy pyjamas and reading can go a long way to priming your system for sleep.
Conclusion
Sleeping while travelling doesn't need to be arduous. If done properly, you can have as good of a sleep as at any other time in your life. While there are plenty of processes that you can incorporate into your sleeping time, there are also plenty of tools to help. Things like meditation apps, climate control, and earplugs can help with getting you to sleep faster no matter what environment you might find yourself in.
Member discussion