You Miss the Physical Comforts of Home
Your body is most comfortable at home because it has grown used to its surroundings. Also, you’re likely to be more physically comfortable in your own bed because it features your preferred linens, pillows, and mattress firmness. An uncomfortable bed can make it very hard for just about anyone to get comfy enough to fall asleep and stay asleep, so you should try to prioritize the comfort of your accommodations for sleeping when you’re making arrangements.
When you’re going to book a stay somewhere, choose a hotel that is well known for comfortable pillows and beds. Some big hotel chains have bedroom furnishings that are so popular that high consumer demand has prompted the hotels to actually sell them, so these options are usually a safe bet. New Orleans Marriott hotels feature signature pillows that may actually make you want to upgrade your pillows when you get home.
Environmental Changes Are Disruptive to Your Sleep Cycle
Even people who usually don’t have any trouble at all getting to sleep may struggle to get restful sleep when they are traveling. Sleep is a habitual act, and making seemingly slight alterations to the conditions that are built into your regular routine can represent a forceful break from the habitual nature of your sleep cycle. In fact, some attributes of your routine that you might assume are irrelevant could actually have profound subconscious significance in your body’s sleep program. The items in your field of vision, the textures that you are in physical contact with, and the ambient light in a room inside of your home can all play a role in internal sleep processes. The absence of those cues could be physiologically confusing for the body, and your brain won’t get the signals that it needs to wind down for rest.
Insomniacs May Struggle More to Manage Their Condition
Having trouble sleeping is a potentially serious medical condition and a lot of people who have insomnia struggle with it for all of their lives. traveling away from home entails submitting to a substantial change in one’s sleeping environment. Substantial changes could make people unable to control various factors that bear on their ability to manage their condition.
When a person with a medical condition is not able to practice the same level of effective management that they are usually able to maintain, he or she may rapidly decompensate and experience acute symptoms. For an insomniac, decompensating could take the form of increased anxiety about sleeping or frequent waking.
Dietary Habits Have Probably Changed Temporarily
Traveling almost always entails dietary changes, and changes to your diet can affect how your body regulates energy. When you’re away from home, eating healthy can help you maintain digestive regularity that promotes good rest.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, getting good rest when you’re on the road may call for some extra planning and preparation. To the extent your own sleeping environment may have some disturbances built-in, you’ve probably become somewhat accustomed to them. In contrast, you’re not familiar with the sources of stimulation and potential disturbance when you’re away from home. Giving yourself some extra time to rest and optimizing your environment can improve the quality of your sleep significantly.
No matter your sleeping arrangements, do not let sleep apnea hinder your travel plans. Whether you’re traveling for business or pleasure, you want to be at your best, and you’re not going to get there if you’re losing sleep.
If you need any additional information on traveling with a CPAP machine, or would like to purchase a travel-specific CPAP machine, feel free to contact the Alaska Sleep Clinic.
