Sleeping Positions on Planes

Long drives are tough, but long flights are just cruel. The limited leg room. The way the seat tilts back not... quite... far... enough. And every time you're about to nod off, there's the flight attendant with a microwaved side of beef and some soggy vegetables. Great.

If you're stuck in a chair, awake, and your iPod has just run out of charge, consider entertaining yourself by people-watching—especially those people who are trying to sleep. Here are some ways that people contort themselves into plane slumber:

1. Head rolls sideways. Saliva dribbles onto collar.
2. Head rolls forward, until sleeper feels a crick in his neck, and then his head flies backward, hitting the seat and knocking him awake.
3. For tall people, head rolls backward, onto the headrest. When the sleeper first snores, it comes out as a loud SNORT, and the sleeper wakes up, groggy, wondering what the strange noise was.
4. On cramped flights, the sleeper slowly falls sideways, into the passenger next to her. These people don't know each other, but the sleeper is out cold. The passenger next to her cringes uncomfortably, desperate to use the lavatory.
5. After six or seven hours of running around, a 3-year-old finally spreads out over both parents, completely limp and dead asleep.
6. Arm extends into the aisle, pointing like a zombie hand. Every time the concessions cart rolls through, it smacks into this dead hand—but somehow the sleeper never wakes up.
7. On emptier flights, sleeper curls up into a compact fetal position, taking up two seats. His John Grisham novel is soon crushed underneath his armpit.
8. Couples press heads together. Everybody around them thinks, "Awww, look how cute they are!" The couple wakes up and thinks, "Ow, my head!"
9. A young kid sleeps with face pressed into tray table. When the flight attendant stirs him, whispering that they're about to land, the kid nods drowsily, yawns, and goes back to sleep on tray table.
10. A businessman falls asleep, and his smart phone falls from his hand beneath the seat. After landing, he searches frantically for it.
11. A hirsute sleeper wakes up with chewing-gum stuck in hair.
12. Baby cries whole way to Hawaii. Nobody sleeps.

How do you sleep on planes?

Related Post: The Dos and Don'ts of Talking to Strangers on Planes (or Anywhere Else)