5 Tips on Getting to Sleep in a Hotel Room

You’ve just shut the door into your hotel room, and there’s not a lot of time to sleep before the big presentation tomorrow. Then you checked your email, made a couple of calls and before you know it the clock is telling you that you should be asleep already. So you climb into bed, and instead of getting a solid 7 hours of rest, you spend the whole night tossing and turning. You’re completely exhausted but for some reason you just can’t go to sleep. Here’s some of my favorite techniques for getting some quality rest in a hotel.

1. Location, Location, Location

While getting your room at the front desk, make sure to ask for a “quiet” room. Away from high school marching bands, elevators, ice machines, housekeeping rooms, and colicky babies. Also make sure it’s not on the first floor, some hotels will even have a “quiet floor” specially reserved for airline crews and business people. This way if you need another room later on, you’re not just some whiny customer because you had discussed it with them earlier.

2. Routine, Routine, Routine

Even though you’re in a strange city in a strange bed, you can trick yourself into sleeping as normally as you would at home by following the same routine before you go to bed. Lay out your clothes for the next day, set your alarm (making sure some joker hasn’t set the alarm for 3am), and if you’re stressed about something; try writing down a “worry list” of things that could have you thinking about them late at night, along with a plan on how you’ll deal with them later. It’ll stop you from tossing and turning worrying about things you can’t change in the few hours before the alarm starts ringing. Also try to avoid watching TV as people who do report having sleep problems.

3. Climate Control

People generally are best able to fall asleep at a temperature around 69 degrees Fahrenheit (plus or minus 5 degrees for personal comfort), so set the thermostat before you go to sleep so you won’t be woken up freezing/sweating in the middle of the night.

4. You Can leave the Light On

Some things in the hotel room will always be the same, a TV that turns on to the menu/welcome channel at an incredibly loud volume, lights that have no clear way to turn on/off, and one available outlet that’s hidden behind the bed/couch.) But one thing will always be different and that’s the location of one of the more important things to find easily in the middle of the night. The Bathroom. I turn on the bathroom light and shut the door to block most of the light, but it lets through enough so you can find your way when half asleep. Plus the bathroom fan also doubles as a kind of “white noise” to block out people slamming doors, as well as airplanes and trucks. If that doesn’t work, leave your laptop on and try this online white noise generator.

5. Melatonin

I saved the best tip for last. Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone that is found in humans and most other animals. It’s produced normally by your brain after periods of darkness and is part of your circadian rhythm. Simply put it’s what tells your body to go to sleep. It’s available over the counter in almost all countries; you can find it in the supplements section of any supermarket, pharmacy, or Wal-mart. Take it about 30 minutes before you want to sleep, and soon you’ll get sleepy. That’s it. Once you are asleep however, it won’t keep you asleep like other prescription medications will. It’s not a sleeping pill; it won’t knock you out and won’t make groggy the next day. It’s also one of the few things pilots can use to deal with hopping across time zones every day.

Hopefully using these tips you’ll get some quality rest on your next trip. Good night and good luck.