Sleep study of possible interest to travelers

Joel, that is a very interesting article. I just got back from a 4 night trip to a destination I have visited frequently, spending 2 nights in 2 different hotels. Ive stayed in both places before but it's been a while. I can give anecdotal evidence to support the findings in the study!!

Thanks for posting!

(Plus I found the information about the bird studies fascinating as well.)

Yes, a trip with many short stays is much more uncomfortable than a trip with a single longer stay, but of course travel stress should be a factor. I would add that I rarely get a good rest the night before leaving for a long trip, as my brain is too busy in getting up in time, switching off lights and gas, making up again my luggage and thinking to missing items etc.

When I was young, perhaps up until about 15, I did notice that I didn't sleep as well in a new place, but I certainly don't observe that any more. Maybe it's just a matter of how "grown up" you are. I don't see that the researchers took that into account.

About ten years ago I took a trip where I spent my first 7 nights in 6 different places, and I don't remember feeling particularly tired.

I don't sleep well at all in a "new" bed and I'm all "grown up"... I don't think age is a factor. Thanks Joel, good to know I'm not alone!

I am grown up too and never, ever sleep well in a foreign bed.

I sleep like a baby from night one. The only times I don't sleep well is the night before departure (night zero) and the night before returning. Stress interferes with my sleep at home.

I think I tire myself out enough during the day that it's easy to sleep at night.

I sleep the same when traveling as I do at home, perhaps even better. I have always kept weird hours, even more so now. Jet lag has little to no effect on me so we are good to go when we land. Like others the night before a trip is the hardest to sleep - I'm too excited to sleep!

I'm in my 40s, travel very frequently for work and leisure, and always sleep restlessly the first night in a new bed. By the second night I'm generally OK. So I try to avoid city/hotel hopping.

I can count on usually sleeping better the second night in the same bed than I did on the first night, whether I got to a place by plane or car. In my younger days there was no distinction. Now, if I drove eg, to Sacramento, etc by car, spent two nights in a hotel, usually the second night is much easier in sleeping than the first, the first being a bit restless. Arriving after a transatlantic fight in the morning, I don't get jet lag having slept on the plane and sleep all right the first night in the hotel bed, or even in a hostel dorm room, with the the second night back to normal. True, the night before departure I've had it both ways...being too wired and the result is a restless sleep, or I just crash into a deep sleep.

I am a confirmed traveler and, perhaps therefore, feel at ease in new hotels and B&Bs. Intellectually, they're pretty much all the same to me. Even better, I seem to be less picky about beds on the road, which are often more firm than what I prefer at home.

I use to travel all the time for work and never slept well the first night in hotel. This article finally explains to me why that happened. It makes perfect sense to me. Thanks for sharing, Joel

I think I sleep well on the road because my days consume a lot of energy. I'd bet anyone who walks 8 or better miles in a day will sleep well wherever they end up staying the night.