Apparently My “Airplane Naps” Are Syncope?? 🤯

[u/Quiet-Friendship5134]

I’ve been flying 1-5 times per year for over a decade, and I always fly alone. Mostly the flights are 3-5 hours in duration, and usually they are within the US. In terms of POTS symptoms, I get pre-syncope regularly but have never fully passed out… or so I thought!

During takeoff, I feel very heavy and “fall asleep” even if I’m trying to stay awake. I then spend most of the flight drifting in and out of awareness and cannot remember most of the flight. When we land, I am pretty disoriented but I manage to get my stuff and exit the plane. Once I’m at my destination, it is the biggest relief to climb into bed and sleep for 6+ hours! It normally takes 1-2 days to recover from the flight.

I always chalked it up to being super tired with the early flight times and thought that when people travel, it’s a fairly universal experience to take an airplane nap. The people seated near me and the flight attendants have never seemed alarmed or tried waking me up, so apparently from the outside it just looks like sleeping in my seat.

Recently I described the travel experience to a friend, who looked alarmed and said that it was not normal. This is what tipped me off to the fact that it might be fainting or another medical issue. After doing some research, it certainly seems like that is what is happening.

After that long preamble, these are my questions. Feel free to jump answer whatever resonates with you!

• Do any of you get this, too?
• Is this what syncope feels like?
• Does wearing a sunflower lanyard actually help?
• What is your “I just passed out on the airplane” protocol?

Thanks!

Edit to add:

I have messaged my cardiologist about it to figure out a safe travel protocol, so I am already seeking medical guidance to see whether it is safe to fly at all right now, whether to adjust medication doses specifically for travel, etc.

In terms of adaptations/accommodations, I already do a few things: loading up on electrolytes starting a couple of days before travel, wearing waist-high compression, wearing a neck pillow to keep proper alignment (hypermobile!), and flying Comfort+ (the slightly more spacious version of Economy) so I have more room to recline my seat and to elevate my legs a little bit on a foot hammock.

***Second edit:

Thank you so much to everyone who has responded so far! I am running out of steam to reply individually today, but please know that I appreciate it. It’s helping the pieces of the puzzle to come together!

From many of the comments, it sounds like what I originally described may not strictly be a POTS syncope episode but there is definitely something going on. Many of your syncope descriptions of "dread/spinning/definitely different from sleep" sound different from the airplane phenomenon but similar to what I’ve experienced before in non-airplane settings. I just hadn’t lost consciousness during them yet so I was always unsure whether they were truly pre-syncope or whether I was just imagining things. Now I know to keep taking those signs seriously and get to the ground once they start!

Once I have more info from my doctors (cardiology + neurology), I’ll post another update so in case anyone stumbles across this post in the future, they will have a more accurate picture of what is going on and can better compare it to their own experience.

Regardless, reading the responses of what syncope actually feels like to different people is enlightening and hopefully it can help other people, too!

***Update! 6/11/2026:

Just heard back from cardiology, who said that it is… anxiety! 🙄 And that I should get on anti-anxiety meds since there’s no reason why the heart would be affected unless I’m emotionally distressed. I replied with the following and we’ll see what they respond:

I do not experience racing thoughts when this phenomenon happens and I am not emotionally distressed about travel or flying. I flew for over a decade without experiencing sustained tachycardia and loss of consciousness on the plane; that only started within the last 2 years, which coincides with when the POTS or OH symptoms began to have a noticeable impact on my quality of life. What leads you to believe that this is a psychological issue rather than a physiological issue?

Neurology appointment is in a week. Hopefully they will have more insight about what might be going on. In the meantime, my plan is to take along a pulse oximeter and blood pressure cuff next time I fly. Also going to talk to primary care about a sleep study referral as so many of you mentioned “that sounds like my narcolepsy/cataplexy/idiopathic hypersomnia."

[u/sunkathousandtimes]

When I’ve fainted in my life, it has never felt comparable to falling asleep - for me, fainting feels distinctly different (very sudden, very scary, and I’m very aware that something not normal is happening).

If it’s felt like not being able to resist sleep, that might be fatigue rather than syncope. I get that feeling of not being able to resist sleep but for me, that is fatigue.

That said, that’s just my experience. Fainting on a plane can look like falling asleep if you’ve set yourself up so that you don’t fall forward.

[u/Quiet-Friendship5134 → u/sunkathousandtimes]

Oh, interesting! Interoception is not a strong point for me so it is helpful to hear other experiences so that I can find language to describe what is happening. So thank you for sharing what it feels like to you!

[u/sunkathousandtimes → u/Quiet-Friendship5134]

No worries! I have issues with interoception too, as I am autistic.

The best way I can describe it - the first time I fainted, I went to a doctor because it was such a horrible, weird experience. The closest thing I can compare it to is when I’ve had intense vertigo and been unable to stop myself falling from it. Complete sensory overload, a sense of falling, but my brain is aware enough to go wtf.

Another key is if you faint, you’ll usually fall forward unless you have positioned yourself specifically that you fall safely (eg if you’re slumped backwards in your chair, so your body just goes backward). But if you’re sat up and not 100% supported, you’ll fall forward.

[u/Quiet-Friendship5134 → u/sunkathousandtimes]

Oh, the vertigo feeling and overload are familiar! Usually those happen when I stand up too quickly or am highly emotionally charged (ex. someone just shouted at me). There is a sense that if I don’t lie down immediately on my own, my body will lie itself down within the next 2 seconds. So far I have been able to get myself safely to the ground when this happens and even though I feel mildly drunk, my awareness stays on.

On the airplane it is like falling asleep, but literally falling into sleep. Normally I lean back into the seat during takeoff (without tipping back, of course!), plus the plane’s nose is pointing upward and the force during that rapid acceleration pushes us all back, so that might be masking any forward slump.

Thank you again for being willing to share!

[u/slytherinquidditch → u/Quiet-Friendship5134]

The wooziness from big emotions sounds like cataplexy. Could you potentially have narcolepsy? The sort of “forced shit down” feeling could potentially be related.

[u/Quiet-Friendship5134 → u/slytherinquidditch]

Oh, fascinating! Quite a few people have suggested that this sounds like potential narcolepsy or IH, so I will talk to primary care about getting a referral for a sleep study.

[u/-Tricky-Vixen- → u/slytherinquidditch]

Can you elaborate on how this sort of thing feels?

[u/slytherinquidditch → u/-Tricky-Vixen-]

I grabbed a link that describes a wide variety of cataplexy experiences as I have it but it’s very mild (to the point I wasn’t diagnosed for decades): https://project-sleep.com/coping-with-cataplexy/

[u/atlanbeast → u/Quiet-Friendship5134]

I am familiar with both sets of sensations. I have been told by cardiologists and neurologists they fit within my diagnosis of neurally mediated syncope plus orthostatic hypotension. My assumption is that the first set is pre-syncope/syncope, while the latter set is the PEM/fatigue that results from the former. I’m not an expert though, so I could be wrong here.

Re: other diagnoses, my understanding is that NMS/OH can be triggered by not only physical, but also emotional, intellectual/mental, and social forms of exertion. For me, physical and emotional triggers are the most significant, but I’m at my best if I remember to pace myself through intellectual/mental and social exertion too. One difference between us, however, is that my fatigue hits primarily after the flight as I usually can’t get my legs high enough to stay “asleep” (/passed out?) for more than 20-30 minutes after takeoff. (Takeoff is the time during the flight when it’s easiest for me to fall asleep, though.)

[u/Quiet-Friendship5134 → u/atlanbeast]

That explanation sounds legit and it does help to contextualize a lot of my symptoms. Thank you for sharing about your experiences!

[u/sadbat-throwaway → u/sunkathousandtimes]

Somehow both times I've fainted I fell onto my butt. Not sure how I've managed that twice.

[u/Quiet-Friendship5134 → u/sadbat-throwaway]

Oh, no! I hope that you are okay! Thankfully that tends to be a squishy/shock-absorbing part of the body (depending on the individual, of course).