Comments on: Should You Take Ambien When Flying?

By: Travelling Tips - Travel with Ease - 1 | The Colors Magazine

Travelling Tips - Travel with Ease - 1 | The Colors Magazine — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:49:48 +0000

[...] take medication in order to get some sleep. About one of these talks Emily Gerson in the post Should You Take Ambien When Flying? at Maiden [...]

By: Emily Gerson

Emily Gerson — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:30:36 +0000

Stephanie, I think you might be referring to Simply Sleep? I’ve used that before, it’s an over-the-counter sleep aid (if not that one, it’s very similar). That helps me sometimes on sleepless nights. However, sometimes it makes me a bit groggy the next day.

Jack, I sleep well on anti-histamines like Benadryl, but even after a full night I still feel groggy. Haven’t tried an anti-histamine-based sleeping aid, though — just anti-allergy ones.

Because these tend to last a long time and make people (at least me!) groggy in the morning, I’d be worried about taking it for a plane flight unless I knew it was long enough to get the equivalent of a full night’s sleep.

I just tried the prescription sleep medication Sonata for the first time — I really liked it because it’s meant to help you fall asleep quickly, but not to keep you asleep during the night, so it’s short-acting (my doc said only 3-4 hours). Seems like something like that could be ideal? I’d be interested to hear a doctor’s perspective….

By: Jack - eyeflare travel

Jack - eyeflare travel — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:56:00 +0000

Another choice could be anti-histamine based sleeping aids such as SleepEeze in the UK. Milder, and not a narcotic sleeping aid so no risk of becoming dependent/addicted on it.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:23:29 +0000

i forgot to add that you can buy the tylenol pm sleeping aid without the actual tylenol in it so you aren’t taking unnecessary drugs. Can’t remember what it’s called off the top of my head but you can find it at target and it’s gotta be cheaper than ambien.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:55:00 +0000

Hmm I’ve never taken Ambien while flying but I do find it impossible to sleep naturally on planes and for long haul flights ill sometimes pop a tylenol pm. The amount of medication is much lighter (I assume) so you can wake up and be alert if neccesary, but it gives me that extra push to fall asleep. If I took anything heavier I’m afraid I’d be super groggy disembarking and going through customs (a good time to have you wits about you).