Sleep training

I’m able to sleep through the shortest of the flights. I sleep better on short trips rather than on longer ones. I settle on my seat, and I’m gone. Since I started avoiding any airplane food, things are even more extreme because I don’t wake up for snacks or such.

The thin recycled air in the cabin makes me prone to sleep, but sometimes I need to optimize the sleep schedule, so I’ve come up with a few tricks to push my napping to the extreme.

I always sleep with the same three pieces when I go to sleep, to the point I conditioned my brain. Every time I play them I fall like a stone. Here they are:

• Fantasie Impromptu, Op.66 – Chopin
• Piano Concert n.5 in E-Flat Major, Op. 73 – Beethoven
• Moonlight Sonata – Beethoven

I always bring a sleep mask with me, so to turn the light down at any time I need to. Light and darkness are the most important signals and going dark helps a lot.

The third trick is breath control. I slow down my breathing on purpose, pushing it as deep as I can. I usually count up to 15 seconds to inhale and 15 to exhale, with a 5-second pause. I push air as slow as possible, deep down and extremely slow.

It ​works, you should try!